Injuries continue to derail bright careers

Sadly, with the announcement that wide receiver Michael Campanaro was injured in the first day of OTAs for the Baltimore Ravens, it immediately brings to mind that bright careers can be quickly shortened by regular injuries. As boconnor25 mentioned on the article announcing his injury, "You can’t make the team in the tub or on the trainers table. Mike seems to spend a lot of time there."

How true that is and it's something that is an issue for every team. Players like quarterback Sam Bradford are labeled as busts and being injury prone, leading to them finding work elsewhere despite draft status and even being pretty good when they see the field. Campanaro was expected to be the main return guy for punts and kickoffs this season with the departure of Jacoby Jones, and he was also expected to compete for some snaps on offense as a quicker slot receiver that the Ravens like to use. Depending on the severity of his injury, Campanaro could now find himself unemployed at the end of training camp.

This isn't Campanaro's first time in the tub and the trainer's table. At Wake Forest, Campanaro was a frequent listing on the injury report. With a broken collarbone, shoulder injury, hamstring injury, broken hand, and other issues. Last year with the Ravens, Campanaro missed extended time with thigh and hamstring injuries.

This isn't the first Raven player to have this issue either, or even the first wide receiver in Ravens' history to earn an injury prone label. Aaron Mellette, David Reed and Tommy Streeter are just some of the more recent players to have this issue. It should come as no surprise that all three of those players either went unemployed for some time or have bounced around multiple teams and practice squads since their release from Baltimore. Each of them also had a lot of potential as well, but all of them had difficulty seeing the practice field in order to develop their skills and show off to coaches that they deserved a roster spot.

Now I'm not saying that Michael Campanaro is going to be cut for certain. At this point, we don't know the severity of his injury nor can we guess how the other wide receivers will fare during OTAs and training camp. However, as we've seen before, consistent injuries can find good players on their way out of town before they've even had a chance to make an impact.