Did Jets botch Mo Wilkerson's ankle rehab? He says there was 'no plan'

[Gas2No99]

Did Jets botch Mo Wilkerson's ankle rehab? He says there was 'no plan'

• 
  Resident HackJetsHater
  ESPN Staff Writer

 

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- This one is hard to figure.

Reflecting on his disappointing season, New York Jets defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson questioned the handling of his surgically repaired ankle, saying there was "no game plan" at the start of the season. That, he believes, may have hampered his recovery.

"We just didn't have a game plan as far as myself and the training staff," Wilkerson said Thursday. "We didn't have a game plan going into the season. We didn't get one until maybe halfway through the season. I'm happy that we did find a plan. It's working, and we're going to continue to do that throughout the offseason."

Wilkerson said he wasn't putting all the blame on the training staff. He said it was "mutual." Head trainer John Mellody is well-respected in league circles, so it's hard to believe he didn't have a plan. Maybe it was just the wrong plan.

Muhammad Wilkerson said he's happy the Jets came up with a plan for his recovery but that it wasn't until midseason. William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

Let's examine the facts.

Wilkerson underwent surgery last January to repair a fractured right fibula (lower leg). He rehabbed on his own during the offseason (he was unsigned) and sat out part of training camp, but he was in the opening-day lineup. In the first six games, he played 96 percent of the defensive snaps (371 of 386) -- one of the highest playing-time percentages of any defensive lineman in the NFL. He missed the seventh game because of ankle pain. At that point, his playing time was scaled back.

Over the first six weeks, coach Todd Bowles downplayed Wilkerson's condition, claiming it wasn't a factor in his performance. Bowles said repeatedly that Wilkerson wasn't being overworked. Evidently, Wilkerson believes otherwise.

"I guess I thought I was good to go," he said, alluding to the start of the season. "Maybe I just needed more time, more rehab."

The Jets, who signed Wilkerson to a five-year, $86 million contract in July, did a poor job of protecting their investment. At the same time, Wilkerson must take some responsibility, too. He should've been more communicative with the training staff. Maybe he kept quiet because he felt pressure to play because of the huge contract.

"It was my first (major) injury," he said. "There should've been (a plan), but there wasn't. There's one in place now. That's all that matters. It's in the past. It's not like you can go back and change it."

Wilkerson, who has only 3.5 sacks in 14 games after making the Pro Bowl last season, acknowledged his ankle didn't respond as well as he had hoped at the start of the season. He's confident he'll be 100 percent by next training camp. His surgeon told him it would take a year "to get back to being the player that I am."

Along the way, Wilkerson has received criticism for his play. He brought some of it on himself by missing a team meeting, resulting in a one-quarter benching.

"At the end of the way, people know who I am," he said. "People are always going to criticize me, regardless. I'm not concerned about that. I know the player I am and capable of being. People in the building know who I am and what I can do. [It] really doesn't matter what other people say or feel about me."

[Sarge4Tide]

When you're 4-11 the critics are going to mericilessly feast on you and you have to sit there and take it because, well, it's your own damn fault that you're 4-11 

[Anthony Jet]

Sounds like this is more of an indictment on mo than the jets 

[varjet]

The Jets do not appear to be a fit, well-conditioned team.  

[LionelRichie]

I am so close to turning this team off until next summer.   I haven't felt this way since the Pitt loss in the AFC Championship game but I am getting close again - for different reasons this time.   

Everything about this team is unlikeable.  The $86M man is looking for someone, anyone to throw under the bus for his total lack of effort this year.   Every part of this team is a mess and each time a player opens his mouth he is less and less likeable.   

[Fibonacci]

Mo, please shut up buddy. 

[Tinstar]

Let me see, would a beat writer twist what a player said to sensationalize his article  ?  Nah, Jet fans would never fall for that crap .

 

 

[Happy Clouds]

Why not? So far this year, we've had various issues with the General Manager,  head coach, defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator, and special teams coach.

It's about time we start to complain about the training staff.

[joewilly12]

Theres no way in hell Woody Johnson doesn't clean house at season end. No other team in the NFL has had the issues we've had this season. 

[Integrity28]

Got his contract, and admittedly didn't invest in rehabbing his injury.

Awesome.

[PCP63]

Not saying he's not legit, he very well may be, but he got his Master's in physical education. A bullsh*t degree, essentially, and not at all applicable to rehabbing professional sports players.

Most professional teams' athletic trainers are actually physical therapists with their doctorates from PT school (which is comparable to med school in terms of how hard it is to get in). I know because that's the path I was originally wanting to go down (but quickly switched to Computer Science).

[detectivekimble]

18 minutes ago, Integrity28 said:

Got his contract, and admittedly didn't invest in rehabbing his injury.

Awesome.

The Jets knew he was a dog from day one.  Mac panicked and signed him after he couldn't trade him for a first or second (no team wanted to give up a pick and pay this dog).

[jeremy2020]

1 hour ago, joewilly12 said:

Theres no way in hell Woody Johnson doesn't clean house at season end. No other team in the NFL has had the issues we've had this season. 

to be fair, Rexy only had 10 men on the field in overtime of a game that could have got him into the playoffs which is a pretty Bowlesy thing to do.

[Pac]

They've been implementing this strategy a while now. 

There was no plan on improving Hacks mechanics for 2016 (still amazed they volunteered that info) and there was no plan to make half time adjustments when getting sh-t stomped every week. 

Also no plan to bench the worst QB in the league for first half of the season and apparently no plan to move on from the worst staff I might have ever seen coach the Jets.

At least they're consistent.

 

 

 

[Maxman]

2 hours ago, joewilly12 said:

Theres no way in hell Woody Johnson doesn't clean house at season end. No other team in the NFL has had the issues we've had this season. 

No way, got it.

[Ken Schroy]

This team makes it so damn hard to be a fan. jeez.

[section314]

10 hours ago, joewilly12 said:

Theres no way in hell Woody Johnson doesn't clean house at season end. No other team in the NFL has had the issues we've had this season. 

Unfortunately, Woody is so incompetent he wouldn't know where to start.

[JoJoTownsell1]

So it was the Jets fault that Mo decided to eat 10 cheeseburgers a day? The man is a fat lazy overpaid athlete. He got paid and has quit on the team. Watch some of the film from games where he gets blocked and just stands there. No sense of urgency or desire. 

[Integrity28]

9 hours ago, detectivekimble said:

The Jets knew he was a dog from day one.  Mac panicked and signed him after he couldn't trade him for a first or second (no team wanted to give up a pick and pay this dog).

Be that as it may, the guy still said he was 100% when angling for a contract... and now he's retrospectively talking about how the Jets didn't have a plan, and he admittedly didn't commit to rehabbing his ankle either. So, now he's both a dog and a liar.

[Augustiniak]

he looked good against the bengals, then sheldon showed up.  i think what mo wants to say, is there was no plan for playing all those DLs together.

[Tinstar]

29 minutes ago, Augustiniak said:

he looked good against the bengals, then sheldon showed up.  i think what mo wants to say, is there was no plan for playing all those DLs together.

He returned from a broken ankle  and hurt it the very 1st game . It was never the same all yr .  Mo Looks just like JJ Watt did just before his season came to an end .  When your game is power and speed and you have a lower leg injury, all your game goes out the window. In Watt's case, his game is Speed and power and he had an Injuried back which negated both .

[Bleedin Green]

I think this continues to be a situation that too much is made of, largely because the beat writers love to do that.  Looking at the first 5 years of his career, and combine it with the very late injury last year, Mo is one of the very, very few I'm actually willing to give a little of a benefit of the doubt to this year.  Now, this is of course assuming that he immediately turns it around next year.  If not, then it's a whole different story.

As far as the training goes, the answer to much of it is in the article itself:  he was holding out.  The team was not in contact with him because of that, and by the time he came back he was 6 months into his recovery, which certainly changes things greatly for the trainer.  That's not to say both the team and Wilk couldn't have done a better job with how it was handled from there (or in Wilk's case, before then), but none of this suddenly has me convinced of anything different.  I could very well turn out to be wrong, but Wilkerson is actually one of the very few who I believe that, after a full offseason of recovery, will be back to what we all saw of him before.

[Savage69]

15 minutes ago, Tinstar said:

He returned from a broken ankle  and hurt it the very 1st game . It was never the same all yr .  Mo Looks just like JJ Watt did just before his season came to an end .  When your game is power and speed and you have a lower leg injury, all your game goes out the window. In Watt's case, his game is Speed and power and he had an Injuried back which negated both .

Somehow that analogy just don't work for me Tin.. I guess the Mo looks just like JJ Watt blanked out the rest of the sentence..LOL

[Jet Life]

Talked about how healthy he was but now it's everyone else's fault but his. Another bum. This team is so unlikable .

[section314]

Do the Jets have a team shrink? 

[Tinstar]

9 minutes ago, Savage69 said:

Somehow that analogy just don't work for me Tin.. I guess the Mo looks just like JJ Watt blanked out the rest of the sentence..LOL

Good to see you old friend  . How have you been ?

[C Mart]

Maybe Mo skipped the meeting that was going to discuss the plan

He also needs to lose a lot of weight

[Shadetree]

This team disgusts me. **** you, Mo, you POS. 

Every. Last. One of them. I have never hated a jets team as much as I hate this one. And it's the players I hate the most. It's so disgusting.

**** this team. 

**** em all.

i can't wait until playoffs start so I can watch players I respect, effort I respect, accountability I respect. 

 

[shawn306]

Does anybody on this team point the thumb instead of the finger ?

I see alot of guys pointing fingers but I have yet to see a guy say "hey I have to be better. What can I do to be better"

Mo points at the medical staff

Fitz points at ownership and the coaching staff when he is benched.

Revis wants to move to safety.

Richardson rips on Marshall.

This entire team needs to take a good long hard look in the mirror. They look like Marbury's Knicks right now

[Villain The Foe]

Looks like Bowles lost the locker room

[C Mart]

5 minutes ago, Villain The Foe said:

Looks like Bowles lost the locker room

No. Looks like a bunch of jackasses need to be kicked the hell out.

 

[jmat321]

Bring back Sal Alosi.  He showed more enthusiasm than Wilk and Revis combined

[jack48]

And where was this Week Three?  This guy is a turd.

[ASH1962]

1 hour ago, JoJoTownsell1 said:

So it was the Jets fault that Mo decided to eat 10 cheeseburgers a day? The man is a fat lazy overpaid athlete. He got paid and has quit on the team. Watch some of the film from games where he gets blocked and just stands there. No sense of urgency or desire. 

100% agree

[Scott Dierking]

Plan at the BEGINNING of the season? Shouldn't the plan have been devised right after surgery? Then monitored

Oh wait, after surgery, Mo did not sign his tag, so he was not legally a part of the Jets. And he didn't sign until right at camp. 

Sounds like Mo was off his plan a little, and should have been more in charge of himself. If you are going to play the big boy, and take control of your career, take control of every part of it. If you feel there is no plan for you, or you don't like the plan, communicate that right away, not after you have performed badly.

Whole thing looks bad on his part