Football is an inherently violent game that naturally leads to plenty of injuries, but some injuries are totally preventable – especially those that happen in the weight room. For that reason, several Baltimore Ravens players are blasting their former strength coach.
This week, the NFLPA released their report cards on each of the 32 NFL teams, rating the teams in terms of how player-friendly they are. In the report, the Baltimore Ravens and former strength coach Steve Saunders got by far the worst ratings of any team in the league with a grade of “F-” and a few players can explain why.
In a series of tweets, several former Baltimore Ravens players claimed that Saunders and the Ravens’ strength coaches contributed to multiple injuries.
“I was def a victim of the strength coaches. Two Labrums and multiple pec strains,” former defensive tackle Carl Davis Jr. said in a tweet.
“Crazy part is that dog went and said I wasn’t working hard and I was being rebellious. I’m like I ain’t tryna get hurt again,” he said in a follow-up post.
“5 months post ACL. Unsuccessfully doing the same leg workouts as people with healthy knees never sits right with me.! Ruined me,” former linebacker Bam Bradley said in a tweet.
“Definitely ruined my career. 3 year season ending injuries in a row after being healthy my entire career prior,” former wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo tweeted. “Rookie year training camp I suffered the same knee injury Lamar had this year . I was forced to practice 3 days later because I was a ‘bubble’ guy.. they cared less about treating me. Year 2 .. I went thru a full week of off season training with the team just for a surprise text day before rookie mini camp saying they wanted me to participate . 15 minutes into practice I tear my quad completely off the bone. Everything went downhill from there. Let’s just say it’s never good when the training room and strength coaches aren’t on the same page. They didn’t like each other and it showed. Huge disconnect between the two which led to multiple injuries for a lot of guys. No hard feelings tho. I still love Harbs and the organization as a whole.”
It’s worth noting that strength coach Steve Saunders was recently fired by the team. And based on these claims, it’s easy to see why.
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