Time to talk about the large mammal in the room. No, not an elephant, but almost as big. That’s right, Jeff Otah, the Panther’s starting right tackle, who’s attempting to recover from a torn meniscus — that would be cartilage — in his left knee, an injury he suffered back in December. Otah was expected to be fully recovered by April. He suffered a setback over the summer, had to have his knee scoped again, and the latest estimate is that he’s still two or three weeks away from practicing, with being in game shape coming some weeks after that.
Otah said that:
When I get down in my stance and try to do some things it’s painful.
In a city with a non-docile sports media, some tough questions would be asked about now. But since this is Charlotte, and since the sports outlets most definitely don’t ask tough questions, we will:
Most of the meniscus is incapable of healing itself as it gets no blood flow. Instead, you go in with an arthroscope and remove the damaged cartilage. Otah’s setback in July would seem to suggest that he either tore his meniscus anew or the original scope job didn’t properly reshape the cartilage. So this almost certainly isn’t just a case of an athlete being slow to heal. (You can try to repairs tears in the portion of the meniscus that has a blood flow. The healing time is longer though — and since Otah wasn’t placed on the PUP – Reserve list like Thomas Davis, this also most certainly wasn’t the case.)
Jeff Otah’s value comes from a combination of his size, strength, and agility. Even if he gets back on the field this year, how much speed and agility will Otah have? And what’s about next year? Is additional surgery likely in the off season? Knees are complex joints. Do these injuries set off a cascade of knee issues — both on field and for the period after Otah retires?
