Rob Gronkowski isn’t the only NFL tight end to have his knee blown out by a low hit this year. And one of the other victims of a low hit wants the NFL to do something about it.
Dustin Keller, the Miami tight end whose season ended before it began when he took a low hit in the preseason, took to Twitter today to express his concern for Gronkowski and to say it’s time for the NFL to do something about players getting hit in the knees.
Praying for @RobGronkowski and a speedy recovery and a MAJOR comeback..something has to be done about these low hits!!!
— Dustin Keller (@DUSTINKELLER81) December 9, 2013
The player who hit Keller and caused him to miss the entire season was Texans rookie safety D.J. Swearinger, who said at the time that it had been impressed upon him not to hit high, even though he personally would rather take a hit to the head than to the knee.
“I was making a hit playing football,” Swearinger said after the hit on Keller. “In this league you’ve got to go low. If you go high you’re going to get a fine. . . .The rules say you can’t hit high so I went low and I’m sorry that happened. I would think you’d rather have more concussions than leg injuries. Leg injury, you can’t come back from that. A concussion, you be back in a couple in a couple of weeks.”
The NFL, however, wants players to stop thinking of concussions as injuries that are easy to brush off. And if the NFL’s player safety rules mean players are lowering their targets, that’s exactly what the NFL wants.