Brian Westbrook Is Beat To Hell (And Will Probably Retire)

Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook has been in the league for 7 seasons now, and has been very productive for his team and for fantasy purposes, too. It was speculated that after two concussions in three weeks earlier this season that Westbrook might retire. It’s still looking like he will end his career, but because of another injury: his constantly repaired left knee.

Howard Eskin reported Sunday night on NBC Philadelphia’s Sports Final and WIP radio that running back Brian Westbrook may have to retire.

But while concussions triggered talk during the season that Westbrook might not return, Eskin says that Westbrook’s left knee is the problem, due to multiple surgeries and overall wear and tear. He’ll be visiting doctors in the near future for additional opinions about whether he can still play.

Eskin says there’s “almost no chance” Westbrook will play for the Eagles again (he’s due to earn a $7.25 million salary in 2010), and that he might have trouble passing a physical for another team.

Brian Westbrook has dealt with a multitude of injuries in his career, and it would be terrible to see a guy play football with basically nothing holding his knee together. It’s another season-ending injury waiting to happen.

I just want to speculate a little bit, however, on not just Westbrook, but Philadelphia running backs. If you look at a couple of them since Andy Reid became head coach in 1999, you can see that they’ve consistently dealt with injuries. Duce Staley, the old starting running back, had a Lisfranc fracture that shortened his 2000 season, and also a shoulder injury in 2001. That also carried over when he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, as he got older and suffered more injuries that limited his playing time, until he finally retired in 2007 after being a free agent for a year.

Correll Buckhalter, who played for the Eagles from 2001-2008 until going to the Denver Broncos this season, missed 2002 with a torn ACL in his left knee and the 2004 and 2005 seasons with a torn tendon in his right knee. That’s three complete seasons missed due to injury. The reason this matters is because while you’re not playing and sitting recovering, you may be healing, but you’re still getting older. Your body is still aging every year, and while your knee might be fine, maybe some other joint is acting up due to another birthday candle.

Every football team suffers injuries, and the majority of running backs get a substantial injury in their career. The average career for a starting NFL running back is about two to three years.

I’m just throwing out a hypothetical situation, but what if these injuries to Westbrook and others have to do with the way Philadelphia (or Andy Reid) treats their running backs? Maybe the practices or routine they go throw exposes them to these dangers, or maybe how often they’re used during the season does this. It could also not have anything to do with the Eagles, but unfortunate luck on not being able to draft a durable running back. Hopefully something will change before LeSean McCoy constantly has a “questionable” status come game time.