Pre-Team Health Screening: Jamaal Anderson

As the Colts compile their 2011 roster, this series will take a look at the injury history of the players who are new to the team with the goal to provide realistic expectations of the player’s ability to contribute, given their reported health. [caption id="attachment_13170" align="alignleft" width="276" caption="Jamaal Anderson suggests that Matt Hasselbeck sniff his fingers"]Jamaal Anderson_Atlanta Falcons_Date Unknown_Seattle Seahawks[/caption] The first player to review is DE Jamaal Anderson, formerly of the Atlanta Falcons. The good news is that Anderson does not seem to have any prior season-ending injuries, or injuries that appear to be career-threatening. In fact I had to really exercise my Googling skills to confirm what injuries he has had. What I found (primarily courtesy of KFFL) was a string of fairly typical injuries for an active football player: Late Dec 2007 – knee Oct 27, 2008 - head July 26, 2008 – hamstring Oct 26, 2008 – concussion Dec 21, 2008 – sprained ankle, kept him out of Week 17 and wild card game Dec 16, 2009 – chest (out 3 weeks) Aug 18, 2010 – knee Dec 30, 2010 – quadriceps Ok so the bad news is that I found all of these injuries interspersed with plenty of “is Anderson a bust?” stories. Read here for more on Anderson’s capabilities. Assessment: If Anderson continues to underperform his draft expectations, I don’t expect that it will be due to injuries or poor health.