ExtremeRavens Posted October 18 Posted October 18 It was mid-October last year and the Ravens had just wrapped up a successful journey to London, where they recorded the first of what ended up being 10 victories in 11 weeks en route to securing the NFL’s best record and an eventual appearance in the AFC championship game. Along for the ride — across the pond and throughout the season — was injured outside linebacker Tyus Bowser, often playing catch with fans during pregame warmups at home games. In London, he got a tour of Tottenham Hotspur’s sprawling and spectacular facilities while his teammates practiced as he continued to recover from a knee injury he’d suffered in the offseason. Coach John Harbaugh had expected the 2017 second-round draft pick to be available at the start of last season and a significant piece of a stout defense, but with each passing week, it became obvious that Bowser wasn’t going to be activated from the non-football injury list. He never played last season, and the Ravens released Bowser in March. Publicly, Harbaugh and general manager Eric DeCosta said little and spoke vaguely about Bowser’s injury, with the coach in late October saying the knee is “a little angry at times.” Privately, Bowser, who filed a $4.5 million grievance against the organization in April after not being paid for last season, fumed over his medical care. “I’m going into the year talking with the [Ravens’] doctors; I was supposed to be back at the beginning of training camp and [the injury] lingered on throughout the season,” Bowser told The Baltimore Sun earlier this month. “You expecting the people that you trust that is getting paid to help you get back on the field and they’re not doing their job. “I went the entire year without knowing exactly why my knee was reacting the way it did, and then I go to somebody else [for an opinion] and he tells me within 10 minutes what the problem is. Something as simple as an MRI you’ve seen millions of times, you can’t see this simple thing. That’s nobody else’s fault but yours.” The injury, according to Bowser, was loose bodies — fragments of bone or cartilage that break off and float in the knee joint, causing pain, swelling and limited range of motion — that lingered for months. He was given platelet-rich plasma injections to treat it, but the swelling persisted, he said. At some point along the way, he also suffered a staph infection. It wasn’t until December, according to Bowser, that an outside second opinion correctly identified the injury. “It was a thing that can be fixed through surgery and going to clean out the knee, but I went the entire year without the doctors even knowing it,” Bowser told The Sun. “That caused me to miss the whole year. That could’ve easily been fixed and I could’ve been back by the start of the season.” Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun“It was a thing that can be fixed through surgery and going to clean out the knee, but I went the entire year without the doctors even knowing it,” Tyus Bowser said. “That caused me to miss the whole year. That could’ve easily been fixed and I could’ve been back by the start of the season.” (Kevin Richardson/Staff) Asked about Bowser during the team’s season-ending news conference, DeCosta did not provide details. “Unfortunate for Tyus, he couldn’t play this year,” he said in February. “Can’t really get into all the different specifics of that, as you guys know, how we handle the injuries. I think Tyus has probably talked about it in some way. He had an injury unfortunately and wasn’t able to play. We’ll have to continue to assess that in the coming weeks to see where he stands with that injury. [He’s] a great man [and] a good player for us. Just a tough deal for him this year, and we’ll have to deal with it.” Just over a month later, the Ravens, who’d signed Bowser to a four-year, $22 million extension in March 2021 before he went on to post a career-high seven sacks that season, cut him loose. The following month, Bowser filed a $4.5 million grievance against the team through the NFL Players Association, which did not respond to a request for comment. The Ravens were hit with a $1.8 million salary cap penalty as a result and could face another one for $2.7 million next year if Bowser wins the case, which isn’t expected to be decided until 2025. If the Ravens win, they would receive a $1.8 million credit for next year’s salary cap. The two sides could also reach a settlement before then, a route the Ravens chose in 2022 over a contract dispute with former safety Earl Thomas and in 2015 with former running back Ray Rice after they terminated his contract following a video that surfaced of him striking his then-fiancee in an Atlantic City casino elevator. On Bowser’s matter, DeCosta, team president Sashi Brown and Ravens chief medical officer Dr. Andrew Tucker declined to comment through a team spokesperson. “We do not provide comments on ongoing grievances,” the spokesperson said. However, unlike the injured reserve or the physically unable to perform list, when it comes to the non-football injury list, teams are not obligated to pay a player’s base salary if he suffers an injury outside the team’s watch. A team can opt to pay a player if it chooses. Still, Bowser believes how the Ravens’ medical staff handled his injury is what prevented him from being able to return to the field last season and thus collect the money he was otherwise due. “We believe when the facts come out, the order of events is going to show as long as the Ravens’ doctor that they gave him was taking care of Tyus, he wasn’t getting better,” Bowser’s attorney, Greg Dortch, told The Sun. “They didn’t even follow their own protocols to give him the test that they thought he needed. They didn’t pay any attention to him or care about him at all. “Once he got out of the Ravens’ organization and got good medical care, the results speak for themselves.” A free agent and healthy once more this summer, Bowser, 29, worked out for the Cowboys, Titans and Seahawks before signing with Seattle’s practice squad. There, he was reunited with former Ravens defensive coordinator and Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald. Bowser appeared in two games for Seattle (one start) and had one tackle across 38 total snaps before Miami signed him to its 53-man roster two weeks ago. There, another familiar face greeted him — former Ravens defensive line coach Anthony Weaver, now the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator. In Miami’s 15-10 win over the New England Patriots on Oct. 6, he had one tackle in 33 defensive snaps but also a sack that was later taken away. “It was easy carryover,” Bowser told The Sun about the defensive schemes of the two ex-Ravens assistants. “Having the opportunity to play again was a blessing for me. I never take it for granted, especially after being out last year. It’s good to just put my feet back on the field.” As for his time in Baltimore, though, Bowser’s feelings are mixed. “It was difficult because I’m expecting to get the results, especially from the doctors that I’m supposed to trust and lean on to get me back on the field,” he told The Sun. “Unfortunately that didn’t work out. I just tried to find some type of joy within the process because I was definitely depressed, definitely disappointed not being able to play and be able to be around the guys.” Yet, Bowser said he was appreciative of his seven years with the Ravens, which included 152 tackles and 19 1/2 sacks over 89 games. “I look it as a rough breakup,” he told The Sun. “If you’re married, you have a wife and been with them for seven years, little things like that grind away from you continuing that relationship and it breaks off. Of course, you’re discouraged and you’re feeling some type of way because you’re not there anymore, but you’re always gonna have love for that person. “That’s what I feel about the team. I’m always gonna have love for Baltimore — the team, the players, the organization, all the people upstairs. All of those people made my dreams come true coming into this league, so I know there’s no bad blood between me and the Ravens because they’ve allowed me to take care of my family being able to bring joy and bring my goals to life. … But like I said, a bad breakup where it unfortunately had to end. But that’s part of business.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.