Dr. David Chao Talks Injuries on the Ross Tucker Podcast

Dr. David Chao, ProFootballDoc, joined Ross Tucker on his podcast, released Wednesday, to sift through some of the preseason injury chatter.

Here’s a summary of the topics they covered. The podcast can be found on Spotify here or on Apple here.

What is a SIC score?

What we are trying to do is to give an outlook on player health by interpreting coach speak and using source information for the MLB, NBA, and NFL.

The SIC score allows us to grade and project health as a percentage of what their output is for the season. Week to week we grade fantasy players to help viewers, fantasy players, and gamblers get a better look at what their actual health is. We base our scores on videos of the injuries and our insider knowledge of the NFL and sports.

Matthew Stafford - SIC Score 92:

There is a concern with his elbow and the injection he got this offseason. Doc did not see it as that big of a deal until he saw it affecting Stafford in the offseason and saw Ross Tucker making a bigger deal about it. We have concluded at SICscore.com, that we are not overly worried about Stafford and his elbow issues. We believe it is medial flexor tendinitis and not related to his ulnar collateral ligament. If it was his ulnar collateral ligament, then he would be shut down completely and he was playing 7 on 7 last week.

Jimmy Garoppolo - SIC Score 86:

Garoppolo had an ulnar collateral ligament in his thumb last year at the start of the playoffs and played much better than anticipated based on his lower SIC score. He did have an injury to his shoulder in the playoffs vs the Cowboys though that left him with a possible rotator cuff contusion. He then had to get surgery on his throwing shoulder in the offseason, hurting his chances of being traded to another team. He also passed his physical because both he and the 49ers want to part ways at this point, and it also avoids the 7 and half million injury guarantee. 

David Bakhtiari - SIC Score 81:

David Bakhtiari has had some injuries leak into last season and this season, yet the Packers say that it has nothing to do with the ACL. This is not good news though, as it means that Bakhtiari is probably dealing with articular cartilage issues. This could affect his longevity as a player and his left knee still shows a considerable amount of limp. He does not seem ready for this season and Elgton Jenkins(72), the right tackle, is coming off an ACL injury and also won't be ready for the season. Both tackles for the Packers are not healthy and this will hurt the Packers team scores badly. There is likely cartilage damage along with his ACL which does not mean the surgery went bad. His past injuries also have contributed to this.

J.K. Dobbins - SIC score 47:

The Ravens have a team score of 80.5, which is very low for the start of the season. They have issues with running backs, their line, their outside linebacker, and their safety. Dobbins hurt his ACL and LCL before last season and still doesn't look 100%. We hope he makes his way back to being healthy but his SIC score does not reflect that currently.

Chris Godwin - SIC score 62:

He had a late-season injury last year and he was not listed on PUP to start the season but that does not mean he is 100%. He was seen in training camp during wide receiver drills with an ACL brace which is not normal for wide receivers. 

Michael Thomas - SIC Score 59:

He has injuries that have leaked from season to season and finally have passed a physical before this season, but we have not seen a video of so there is no reason to increase his SIC score. We hope he increases his yards this year, but we need to see more videos to interpret how healthy he is.