Report: Major Theory About Sony Michel Missing Last Three Practices Emerges

Sony Michel carries notable injury risk into his debut NFL campaign. His medical record started with a high-school ACL tear. Back in 2014, a broken shoulder blade costed him 4 games at Georgia, followed by an ankle sprain.

Then, in the summer, Michel suffered a forearm fracture, and an ankle sprain and knee strain in 2017.

Given all these statistics, Michel sits high among RBs in the 2018 injury-risk rankings. But he also played a major role in Patriots offense that helped Dion Lewis rank 15th among PPR RBs in 2017 and found 18 rushing TDs for LeGarrette Blount the year before.

On Saturday, new details emerged on the nature of Sony’s latest injury. Reportedly, the New England Patriots rookie running back, who missed his third consecutive practice Saturday, is dealing with a “minor knee issue.”

Michel, whom the Patriots selected 31st overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, left Wednesday’s practice early and has not returned since. His injury “concerned” the team, considering the fact that it is unclear when Michel will be healthy enough to return to practice and whether he will play in New England’s preseason opener next Thursday against the Washington Redskins.

Before the draft, former Patriots executive Michael Lombardi, now of The Ringer, reported Michel had a bone-on-bone condition in his knee.

The statement was never confirmed, and Michel refuted Lombardi’s report after New England selected him.

Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio was asked about Michel’s injury history after the team picked him on April 26.

“There’s a lot of information that we sort through, so in the end whatever you have with the player you take everything that comes along with it,” Caserio said. “So you’re either comfortable or you’re not comfortable with a player’s situation. So you take a lot of that information in. So in the end we felt we were comfortable with the player so we went ahead and made the pick.”

With Georgia in 2017, Michel played in all 14 games, carrying the ball 156 times for 1,227 yards and 16 touchdowns.