Former New York Giants defensive tackle Linval Joseph, now with the Minnesota Vikings, says he hid a partially torn labrum in his shoulder from the team last season, choosing instead to not tell anyone and play through it. "I kept it to myself," he told the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
Joseph played in 15 games for the Giants last season, registering 59 tackles and three sacks. The 25-year-old then hit the open market and cashed in big, getting a five-year, $31.5 million contract from Minnesota. Somewhere in there, he also had surgery to fix his shoulder.
"I played through it," he said. "By me being hurt, it showed me a different side of my game. So I just had to get smarter, quicker and just study and use just straight power. So it actually developed my game to the next level."
Even in this day and age when player safety is paramount players will continue to try and hide injuries whenever they can, for as long as they can.
Should Giants' fans be upset with Joseph for hiding his injury? Should they give him credit for playing through the injury, doing whatever he could to try to help an under-manned team that was trying to get things turned around? Was he motivated by greed, simply not wanting to miss games and hurt his offseason value on the free-agent market?
In the end, does it make any difference? Joseph is an ex-Giant, so does what he did or did not do last season matter any longer?
Your thoughts, Giants fans.