As of Monday evening, Titans WR Justin Hunter is still under observation in a hospital for a lacerated spleen he suffered in Sundays loss to the Texans. According to other players, Hunter was spitting up blood, so that’s not awesome. Thankfully, the worst appears to be over for Hunter, and the plan is that he’ll be released from the hospital Tuesday (or so). While I don’t want to downplay his injury, it certainly could’ve been much worse.
As we shift the focus from his real life-and-death health to his 2014 NFL health, we’re left with a pretty pessimistic picture. Yes, my database does have another case of a lacerated spleen. (I’m telling you, that database has everything!) Back in 2012, TE Jason Witten lacerated his spleen during a preseason game. He sat out the remaining three preseason games, but returned in time to play in the season opener. His three-week rehab beat most people’s estimates. If you want to read more about his particular case, Jene Bramel (now with Footballguys) wrote a piece about Witten’s injury that’s worth a few minutes. If Hunter were to recover as quickly as Witten (that’s a huge “if”) that would still put him at playing no sooner than Week 17. Of course the more likely scenario is that everyone plays it safe and Hunter sits out the rest of this year. Not like he’s making a playoff push with… crap, who is the Tennessee quarterback again?
