Post-injury progress in the NFL

Now more than ever before, NFL athletes are sustaining more career-ending injuries.

Football is a contact sport. Those who choose to play the sport will get banged up, bruised and scarred at some point. How severely is the question?

One of the worst things that can happen to a team and team owner is to sink millions of dollars into a first round pick or free-agent franchise player and have that player somehow end up severely injured and unable to play for an entire season. It has to hurt more than the player.

Just ask the owner of the Denver Broncos about how he felt after winning a Super Bowl with running back Terrell Davis and not having him for all but one game of the following season.

I'm sure Atlanta Falcon's President, Taylor Smith, felt the same way when Jamal Anderson went down with a season-ending injury after a previous winning season.

The list of disappointments can go on and on and includes Curtis Enis, Ricky Williams, Robert Edwards and Ki-Jana Carter. How have all these athletes responded to rehab and the pressures of returning to the starting line-up?

The names just mentioned are still struggling to find their place in the League and on their respective teams.

Depending on the severity of the injury, athletes rarely bounce back at 100% from season-ending injuries. At best, you can expect an NFL player to return to physical play at about 98%. Just as the cliche goes, once an automobile has been in an accident, it just never seems to run the same. This also seems to be the case in professional football. With today's NFL players running faster, hitting harder and simply playing a stronger game, it's almost imperative that every player play at 100% of their athletic ability.

One athlete not mentioned as an injury disappointment, who also sustained a season-ending injury during practice after a win over Cincinnati in the 2000 season, is Kevin Dyson.

One season after a stellar 1999 season, Tennessee Titan receiver Kevin Dyson went down during practice with a torn ACL, which would sideline him for the remaining 14 games of the 2000 season.

Dyson, you may remember, made the game-winning touchdown run resulting from a lateral from tight end Frank Wycheck in the 1999 playoffs against Buffalo known as the "Music City Miracle," and almost made the near winning touchdown catch against the Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV.

After not playing in the last 14 regular season games in 2000, Dyson by all pre-season indications, is back at 99.9%. Probably one of the most underrated receivers in the NFL, Dyson has become McNair's go to guy and a site for NFL fans everywhere to behold.

After Dyson's exceptional display of showmanship in the '99 season, expectations obviously ran high regarding his return for subsequent seasons. Last year's injury was felt by many, and his successful return is welcomed by all.

Dyson will, without a doubt, play a leading role in Tennessee's plight to return to the Super Bowl.

A very versatile receiver, Dyson will have opposing defensive coordinators putting in a little overtime planning to defend his threat to the defensive secondary. In order for any team to slow down the Titan's passing attack, they will have to double up and shut down Dyson. If not, look for Dyson and McNair to become as lethal a tandem as Culpepper and Moss. Also, look for Dyson to put in a serious bid for a Pro Bowl spot just one season after returning from his season-ending knee injury.

Dyson is a true athlete and is experiencing extreme post-injury progression in a more fickle National Football League.