Lions receiver Calvin Johnson broke the NFL record for receiving yards in a season in 2012. And that was even harder than previously known.
Johnson played with at least two broken fingers most of the season and is still being seen around Detroit with his hand wrapped, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports.
Although Johnson was banged up a lot last season, the fingers weren’t among the injuries the Lions listed on their official injury report. Johnson frequently missed practice with knee and ankle injuries and also said at one point during the season that he had suffered a concussion and nerve damage, although he later backtracked on that claim, after questions began to be raised about why the Lions’ medical staff cleared Johnson to return to the game in which he allegedly suffered that concussion.
Asked about it today at the NFL Scouting Combine, Lions coach Jim Schwartz would not confirm that Johnson had broken fingers, but he hinted that the report was true.
“I am not going to comment on any of our players’ health,” he said. “But that’s not uncommon for a wide receiver. . . . We don’t have any injury reports this time of year. And you know how I am about injuries.”
And we know how Johnson is about injuries: He plays through them. And plays like the best receiver in the NFL.
