Cleveland Browns safety Grant Delpit saw his 2020 season come to an end almost before it had truly begun.
As soon as Delpit, the team’s second-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft, suffered a torn Achilles tendon during a training camp practice in late August, it was clear he was done for the year.
While there was never a high risk that Delpit would not return this season, there has been a legitimate concern that he would not return as the same player.
A 2011 study in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy looked at the impact on players from 1997 to 2002 who suffered an Achilles injury and discovered that there could be a long-term impact:
Unfortunately, these injuries likely represent career-altering and often career-ending events for professional athletes, as one third of the players who sustain an Achilles tendon rupture in the NFL never return back to competition.