When watching or playing sports, there is always a constant risk of injury that can happen. Some injuries are minor and not necessarily serious, while others have serious ramifications and could zap away their abilities to where they are never the same or even be forced to retire. Today, we are going to discuss a few players that overcame serious injuries and returned to their best form.
If you want to win some extra money, an NFL injury report, this could simply be the biggest factor in a victory or a defeat. Let’s dive into some injury comeback stories throughout history.
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant has been one of the best players in the history of the National Basketball Association, as he has won a couple of NBA Championships and is a former NBA MVP Award winner. He infamously decided to join the Golden State Warriors, and during the 2019 NBA Playoffs, he suffered a calf strain that kept him out until the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors.
However, in Toronto, he went down with a torn Achilles, and fans around the world immediately assumed that we would never see Durant as a dominant player again. However, he recovered with the Brooklyn Nets after signing a max deal with them in that offseason and regained his status as one of the best players to ever step foot on an NBA court as he is averaging 28.7 points per game in his first two seasons on the court with the Nets and is back to his dominant power.
Peyton Manning
One of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history had to deal with a huge devastating injury later in his career that really zapped a lot of his power, as Peyton Manning was synonymous with the Indianapolis Colts. He missed the entire 2011 season with a neck injury, and the franchise had a huge problem because Manning was out the entire year, they actually won the first pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, and one of the best prospects in decades was available in Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.
The team decided to move on from Manning, and he signed with the Denver Broncos as the Colts decided to go with Luck. Manning would play for the Broncos for his final four seasons, and he finished 45-12 with 140 touchdowns and 53 interceptions as a member of the team. More importantly, the Hall of Famer appeared in two Super Bowls and won Super Bowl 50 back in 2016. He never looked exactly the same, but he continued to be a dominant quarterback and win games for his Broncos.
Adrian Peterson
Yes, a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus tear is not the same injury that can end a player’s career as it was back a few decades ago, but the ability to dominate is the reason he is on the list. Peterson suffered the injuries on Christmas Eve 2011 and missed the remainder of the regular season and entering 2012, it was interesting to see how he would respond.
Oh boy, did he respond.
Peterson finished the 2012 regular season with arguably the greatest season in the history of running backs. He finished with 348 rushing attempts for an outstanding 2,097 yards with 12 rushing touchdowns. Peterson also led the sport with 131.1 total scrimmage yards per game.
This season was just nine rushing yards short of Eric Dickerson’s all-time rushing leader in a single season. “All Day” won the NFL MVP that season and beat Peyton Manning for the award as he received 30.5 of the 50 votes for the award.
Conclusion
The biggest stars are never going to be able to avoid injuries, and their recovery is something to applaud as these three players did not need to return to prove anything to anyone. What are some other players that you can think of that suffered devastating injuries and returned to the top of the mountain?