Gunn: Jordan Hicks Knows This Is A Big Year For Him
One of the big names returning from injury for the 2018 season is one of the leaders of the Eagles Defense: Jordan Hicks. Hicks was carted off the field after just the second play of the game in Week 7 versus the Redskins when he suffered a ruptured Achilles Tendon. But injuries have been a red flag during his football life on the Professional and Collegiate levels. Hicks tore his Chest Pectoral Muscle in November of 2015, his rookie season, and in college Hicks started the first three games of his Junior season before suffering a a hip injury that forced him to miss the remainder of the season along with earning him a Medical Redshirt the next season. He started the first four games in 2013 at the University of Texas before again suffering another season-ending injury, this time a ruptured Left Achilles Tendon. Hicks has played in 31 of 48 games during his first three NFL seasons compiling 119 Tackles and 7 Interceptions.
NBC Sports Philadelphia Eagles Reporter Derrick Gunn joined The Sports Bash on Thursday with insights on Jordan Hicks from his conversation with the 26 Year Old Linebacker at 2018 Eagles Training Camp:
"The only way to win over doubters is to stay on the football field - Gives him an additional chip on his shoulder. (Hicks) said he understands his injury history, he understands he wasn’t there to finish what he started in 2017 and he said he went through the struggles mentally of having to sit by and watch his guys go through the battles that he wasn’t there to help. He said he came out on the other side feeling good because they were able to hoist that trophy as Super Bowl champions....Had they not gone all the way and won it, he would have felt like he let his teammates down. So he knows this is a big year for him contractually and as a professional athlete. He’s doing everything he could possibly do to stay on the football field - Jordan understands that there are many doubters out there about him and his durability. The only way to shut them up or to win them over is to stay on the football field."
Hear what Gunn had to say about his One-on-One conversation with Brian Dawkins ahead of his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Gunn's perpsective on 2018 Eagles roster