When Terrell Suggs hurt his Achilles’ tendon last month, it was reported that he injured himself playing basketball. That report was disputed by Suggs and his agent, who said the Ravens linebacker hurt himself doing training and conditioning.
A month later we have a new report that confirms the original report that Suggs got hurt playing basketball.
An eye witness told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Suggs got hurt playing basketball at a tournament in Arizona on April 29.
“He got hurt Sunday prior to the (basketball tournament) championship game,” said Herman (Sonny) Hoffman, the director of the Akchin Gymnasium in Maricopa, Ariz., where the tournament was held.
Hoffman was asked how certain he was that Suggs injured his Achilles at that time.
“Well, I have other staff members that told me the same thing. The people who were scorekeeping, keeping the books, running the clock, they all said the same thing. He did it during the game. It looked like he stepped wrong. There was a collision, and he stepped wrong, possibly on someone’s foot. It was either the Achilles or the ankle because it was in that area. After that, he left and didn’t play.”
Sounds pretty convincing to me. So why would Suggs and his agent lie about the injury? There could be two reasons.
One, the Ravens probably could void payments to Suggs if he violated his contract by playing basketball. Two, to preserve Suggs’ image. If he got hurt while training, it just makes it look like he was working extra hard. If he got injured playing basketball, he looks foolish for getting hurt doing something for recreation, and it would expose him to plenty of fan criticism.
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