New Orleans Saints Roster, Injury News 2017: Coby Fleener Not Immediately Evaluated for Concussion After Helmet-to-Helmet Hit
The New Orleans Saints might have breached the National Football League's (NFL) concussion protocol last Sunday.
Tight end Coby Fleener was hurt badly after taking a brutal helmet-to-helmet hit from safety Blake Countess in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Rams, but the Saints seemed to think that it was a good idea to let him stay in the contest even though it was obvious he was concussed.
During the broadcast, CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson had noted that the Saints didn't even take Fleener out of the game to be evaluated on the sideline after the hit and he would remain in the game only to drop a pass from quarterback Drew Brees.
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Fleener was eventually taken out of the game and diagnosed with a concussion.
Of course, some would point out that Fleener managed to get up on his own after the hit, but as seen on the replays, he had a glassy-eyed look on his face and he was shaking his head. It was clearly a hard hit and the Saints should have checked on him. Countess was even flagged for unnecessary roughness.
"The hit was big enough that one would have guessed that someone with the Saints or the concussion spotter upstairs would have called for Fleener to be evaluated for a head injury, but that didn't happen right away," ProFootballTalk's Josh Alper said in his report.
"The NFL concussion protocol, which was implemented in 2009 and adjusted in the years after, requires players suspected of suffering a concussion to be immediately removed from the game for evaluation on the sideline," Danny Heifetz said in his column for The Ringer.
"Despite suffering a hit that earned a 15-yard penalty, Fleener was not immediately checked for a concussion," he added.
Will the Saints get in trouble for not pulling Fleener out of the game after he took the hit?
