NFL Draft

Myles Jack Has A Chondral Defect In Knee, Concern He May Need Microfracture Surgery At Some Point

April 24, 2016

Albert Breer reports that UCLA LB Myles Jack‘s issue with his right-knee is a “chondral defect“, which is related to cartilage loss. However, Breer mentions that it’s still unclear this will become a long-term problem for Jack.

According to Breer, while Jack can play with the injury, it’s remains to be seen if it will affect the length of his career.
Peter King adds that this is a big question for Jack, as some teams fear that he may require microfracture surgery at some point.
Interestingly enough, Breer says that there are teams outside the top 10 “scrambling” for information on Jack now that there’s a chase of him falling in the draft.
NFL physician David J. Chao suspects Jack’s injury to be an osteochondral defect, which involves bone and cartilage loss.

Charles Robinson reports that the Cowboys flagged Jack and put him onto their “sub board” after the recent medical recheck.

Last week, a source told Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News that Jack’s knee is “a time bomb.” According to Bowen’s source, Jack’s knee situation could be similar to former Saints and Jets LB Jonathan Vilma, who played around six-seven healthy years in the NFL.

Following Jack’s medical recheck, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that there were“differing opinions” regarding his knee and a few teams believe the healing in his knee wasn’t enough, while others were okay with what they saw.

Following the medical recheck, Dane Brugler reported that Jack’s medical recheck did not go well for “several teams” who have “long-term question marks” regarding Jack. According to Brugler, “doctors don’t know if he’ll play 10 games or 10 years.”

Jack is considered to be one of the top talents in this year’s draft class, so even if the concerns are overblown in term of his immediate future, questions will remain about the long-term health of his knee.

During his three years at UCLA, Jack recorded 178 tackles, 15 tackles for a loss, one sack, four interceptions, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and 19 pass defenses.