Here’s the obvious fact that every man can attest to: there’s no such thing as a good groin injury. But, beyond the obvious crotch jokes, there are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic about Oakland Raiders D.J. Hayden and his latest groin injury. Hayden was injured only about an hour ago, and I should point out that we have yet to see any official diagnosis or return-to-play estimate. Still, I don’t think I’m going to far out on a limb here by saying this one could be serious.
How can I be so confident with my pessimism here? Easy question. First of all, this is a tough injury for defensive backs in general. At this position, a player needs quick burst speed in order to keep up with a sprinting wide receiver. Perhaps even more importantly, a defensive back needs the ability to run with his hips twisted (such as when a cornerback is looking back towards the ball while trying to keep up with an intended receiver) and this is difficult at best with a groin injury. Most likely because of these mechanics, I have plenty of examples of defensive backs that missed some serious time with groin injuries. In fact, my database shows three significant ones just in 2013 alone. Brandon Browner missed five games, Corey Webster missed the final nine games of the season, and Dimitri Patterson missed a total of eleven (11!) games with an on-again off-again groin injury.
More importantly though, Hayden has a history with groin injuries. He missed the final eight games of 2013 with a groin injury, eventually undergoing surgery and ending up on injured reserve. I should point out that Hayden’s 2013 injury isn’t exactly crystal clear, as I can find it reported as both a groin injury and a sports hernia. Technically, those should be different, but in the murky world of NFL injury reporting, they’re often so intertwined that you can never really get a completely clear diagnosis.
So let’s add this all up. Hayden now has a groin injury. Groin injuries are particularly difficult for players at Hayden’s position. Hayden himself has a history with either this or a similar injury. Yeah, now you see why I’m so pessimistic. Again, I have no idea what the exact diagnosis or prognosis is on this latest injury for Hayden, but I would not be at all surprised to see him end up on injured reserve again before the season is through.
