Myles Jack has a knee issue that is causing some teams to shy away from him – as a result Mike Mayock’s mock draft has him falling to the Oakland Raiders.
Myles Jack’s knee is at it again, causing trouble in the 2016 NFL Draft.
This time the negative whispers are looking like a positive for the Oakland Raiders. Mike Mayock eats, sleeps, and dreams NFL draft prospects. He knows them better than most people know their parents, and he released his one annual mock draft yesterday.
The NFL Network draft guru who is possibly the most respected draft evaluator out there feels that Jack’s knee is enough of a concern to enough teams that he’ll slide to the Raiders at #14. As Mayock says in his mock
“The knee is an important deal and he’s going to slide. I don’t know where to put Jack in this entire draft because of the medicals. The Raiders need an athletic linebacker. Jack’s a great fit, but I don’t know what they might have on him in regard to his knee.”
I speculated on this possibility in an article here on JBB about a week ago, when an anonymous NFL source – always bastions of trustworthy news – stated NFL teams were backing off, referring to the knee as a “time bomb.”
Albert Breer of the NFL Network reported that Jack has a “chondral defect”, which basically means the articular cartilage that covers the end of his femur is deteriorating and may cause pieces of cartilage and bone to break away. The dreaded “microfracture surgery” is considered the best form of treatment.
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Many opinions on chondral defects state that the symptoms are usually not severe – particularly early on – and for the average person the effects present over time and often not until one is elderly. Depending on the severity there may be no symptoms at all.
The activity level of a person does play into progression of the defect, and so it’s safe to assume an NFL player’s degeneration would be accelerated and Jack may suffer earlier than most.
Knowing this reality and the potential for long-term effects doesn’t seem to have assuaged Jack at all. In a story by Eric Aldeson on Yahoo! Sports, Jack found the concerns rather amusing as he’d just completed an intense leg workout and played three games of basketball when he found out that his knee could spontaneously combust at any moment.
“I did a whole leg workout, a whole leg day,” Jack told Yahoo Sports. “I did my agilities, did my conditioning, took a nap. Golden State played at 6 or 7, so I thought, ‘Let’s get a run in before that game.’ Came back, watched Golden State. Looked at my phone and my knee is a ‘time bomb.’ ”
Jack has been completely honest and isn’t shying away from the situation. Though he’s getting a little frustrated with the draft process and accompanying hyperbole, he’s being cool and seems less worried than most. As he told Aldeson:
“It’s not like I’m getting mad,” Jack says. “There’s nothing for me to hide. … I’m doing everything. I’m not focused on the knee, worried about the knee, it’s not limiting me, it doesn’t swell up on me. It’s fine man, it’ll be all right.”
Jack’s agent, John Thornton, went a step further to assuage concerns by posting a video on Twitter of Jack working out, showing him running coverage drills.
Jack certainly looks good in these drills, and this was almost a month ago.
Jack expressed his willingness to do whatever it takes to correct the problem, though since he invoked the taboo microfratcure surgery as a potential solution, it was spun negatively by Bart Hubbach on Twitter:
While it’s clear that Jack should leave the injury talk to his agent and medical team, a player of his talent and versatility should have teams salivating and not running the other way.
But jobs depend on draft picks, and teams get spooked easily. Missing out on a first-round pick can set a franchise back considerably so the caution is understandable; and once a train of thought gains traction, it’s almost impossible to stop.
The Raiders need an athletic linebacker that can play sideline-to-sideline and excel in coverage. Jack is that, for sure – and those players are rare. The concerns with his knee are very real and very legitimate, but the eye-test says he’s recovering very well and his own personal take on the situation is very encouraging.
"“There’s nothing for me to hide. … I’m doing everything. I’m not focused on the knee, worried about the knee, it’s not limiting me, it doesn’t swell up on me. It’s fine man, it’ll be all right.” – Myles Jack"
It’s definitely a risk, but Reggie McKenzie has built a roster that can afford to take a risk if the reward is a potential perennial All-Pro that fills in the biggest gap on the defense. Jack’s talent and fit with the Raiders is a perfect match, and the Raiders cannot pass if he falls to them at #14.
FanSided
Jack has character and is the type of person that will heavily reward whichever team takes a chance on him. He’ll have a chip on his shoulder and be out to prove those that passed on him wrong at every opportunity.
All draft picks are risky enough but Jack has a tangible physical risk that is a legitimate threat to his long-term NFL viability. There is a chance, depending on the severity of the defect, that Jack will never experience symptoms and be perfectly fine. There is a chance that his knee could degenerate quickly and his career could be cut short.
Nobody knows at this point.
This is why he’s tumbling down draft boards, but the Raiders would be wise to stop his descent at #14, if he makes it that far. It would be a perfect fit for both parties.