Why Chris Carson May Have Played His Last Down In The NFL

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll expressed concern on Thursday about Chris Carson’s recovery from November neck surgery, saying there is a “big assessment to be done” with the doctors ahead of training camp next month.

Carson has yet to be physically cleared from the fusion neck surgery that ended his 2021 season. 

At this point, the ProFootballDocs say, Carson should be cleared and has fallen outside the normal timeline of recovery, and his continued struggle creates concern for his prognosis. 

At this time, Carson has an SIC health score of 19, and the Docs anticipate that, in all likelihood, he won’t play in 2022.

The 27-year-old began dealing with a neck injury in early October and was limited to only four games. He underwent what the Docs believed at the time to be a single-level fusion to repair a herniated disc in his neck on November 23. 

Those single-level fusion surgeries, which are done to work around the mobility of the neck, are routinely performed in the NFL, and the return-to-play rate is high. 

Despite that, The Seahawks seemed to be prepared to, at the very least, begin a succession plan for Carson when they drafted Kenneth Walker in the second round over an abundance of other pressing team needs.

Walker joins former first round pick Rashaad Penny in the backfield which, as it stands now, is unlikely to include Chris Carson in 2022. 

The recovery timeline, as the Docs detailed after his surgery, is three-to-four months with optimism that he would be cleared for training camp and available to play Week 1. 

We are now six-and-a-half months removed and Carson wasn't active at OTAs has yet to be medically cleared. 

There are two potential reasons for this delay: there was a complication with the single-level surgery or the succeeding recovery, or he underwent a multi-level fusion similar to rookie Justyn Ross. 

Ross went from a potential first-round draft pick a few years ago to an undrafted free agent in the 2022 Draft because of legitimate concerns that he wouldn’t be medically cleared to compete. 

Players who undergo multi-level fusion surgeries are often not cleared, leaving grave concern that Carson has played his last down in the NFL if he in fact underwent that surgery.