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So far, 2020 has been quite the season for NFL players and it will likely result in a renewed appreciation for the preseason. Injuries have mounted up across the league in varied and significant ways, leaving no team untouched.
Two NFC West rivals have suffered more than their fair share this year, and just after midseason the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers are dealing with more losses than any other team.
The Seahawks have now lost three out of the last four games, and it’s painfully obvious their defense is not strong enough to cope with the missing athletes.
Tracking all NFL players currently on injury reports, Seattle and San Francisco are one and two, with 29 and 27 players injured, respectively. The list does include COVID-19 opt outs, so Chance Warmack is listed for the Seahawks, for example.
However, most of the teams in the league are currently in the 15-20 range. In the division, the Arizona Cardinals have 21 players on the injury report right now and the Los Angeles Rams have 10. The Atlanta Falcons have four, as the luckiest team in the NFL one could say, without a straight face.
While the list is enormous and Seattle is at the top almost every week, they have been fortunate with only three presumed starters on the injured reserve. Bruce Irvin and Marquise Blair were hurt early this year. Meanwhile, the 49ers have 21 of their 27 injured players on injured reserve, which is absurd. Complete devastation of the roster.
We observed last year that the Seahawks tend to have this problem while a certain individual has overseen strength and conditioning.
I will not make any firm Ivan Lewis connections re Seahawks injuries but I won't dismiss them as baseless given his reputation.
— Field Gulls (@FieldGulls) October 30, 2020
It’s obviously impossible to determine any correlation from this side of the locker room, but this many non-contact injuries on one team is infuriating.
Seattle has another rough go of things with their lineup this Thursday, and then hope against hope that either the run game or the secondary can come back full strength at some point this season and put a stop to the bleeding.