Rumors are true, ruptured Achilles tendon. This is worst case scenario for Nate. First of all, my heart is aching for Nate. This is devastating at the very least. The rehab time is going to be long. The decision process now becomes extremely complicated. Was hoping badly for a high ankle sprain which would still be an unfortunate injury as they linger and could have hurt his combine performance.
At this point, I'm wondering what decision you make going forward. Here are my beliefs:
1.) I don't think he was a surefire 1-3 rounder. Thus an injury like this could drop him to late 7th round or more likely undrafted. If he were surefire 1-3 rounder, he might have been picked up in the 6th round by a team willing to put him on the IR until he was healthy. Teams may ask him to rehab on his own and they'll see him when he's healthy. A bit risky at this point. Could be a practice squad guy who gets put on IR and kept if he passes waivers. Lots of options the NFL has for these situations but none are really that great for a player of his caliber.
2.) Being that he may not get guaranteed money, should he return to CU?
He may not be ready to play right away in September, but would be back by October and could be a beast by November. He could show the NFL that he is fully recovered and ready to be a force. Could be millions gained in this decision if this works out.
3.) If he returned to CU and is not ready to play in 2021 due to complications of the injury recovery, 2021 would be a hard ship year.
He could either stay and play at CU in 2022 or train and rehab like crazy next spring for the supplemental draft in summer 2022. Maybe a team takes him in the supplemental draft seeing that he is back to being the Hammer and shows excellent lateral movement and 100% recovered from injury.
Thoughts on this? This is such a tough decision. I'm feeling for Nate. This isn't about CU. This is about what is best for Nate and his future.
