Damage control alert
Right before the offensive linemen began to workout at the Combine, reports began to circulate that Alabama offensive tackle Cyrus Kouandjio had failed some clubs medicals because of a bad knee. Having been involved with the Combine since it began in 1985, this was the first time I had ever heard that a player had problems with the medical that quickly.
The team doctors don’t always get the results of MRIs that quickly because of the high number of players getting examined in such a short time frame. Being that I am no longer with a club, I have no idea if the original report was true or not, but I find it despicable that anyone would leak that information. Medical information at the combine is private and there is no place for it in the public domain. That said, if a few teams had a problem with Kouandjio’s medical, that does not mean that every team did. Every year, there is a variety of opinions on most players' medicals.
The day the original report on Kouandjio came out I was talking to a colleague at the NFP. I told him “watch, within two weeks there will be a medical report made public stating that Kouandjio’s knees are fine”. Sure enough, today, CBS Sports' Jason LaCanfora came out with a report that Dr. James Andrews wrote all 32 teams saying that there are no issues with Kouandjio’s knee.
Here is the problem with all of this. Kouandjio’s agent had to go into damage control after the original report came out. He goes to a doctor and has his player's knee examined and the doctor says it’s fine. While the doctor’s report might make fans feel a little better about the situation, it really means nothing to the 32 NFL teams.
Every team in the NFL has multiple doctors on their staff. All are very renowned in their specialty. Every one of these doctors could care less what Dr. Andrews thinks of Kouandjio’s knee. Dr. Andrews does not work for those clubs, and his opinion means nothing. The clubs only care what their doctor thinks. If a team physician feels there is a problem with a prospect, he will red flag that prospect regardless of anyone else’s opinion. It has to be that way. If it isn’t, the club is making a mistake having that doctor on their staff.
What we saw today was nothing but public damage control, and in the long run, probably a waste of money on the agent's part.
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This story originally appeared on Nationalfootballpost.com
