NFL Medical Tidbits: DaVon Hamilton spinal abscess & Brendan Sorsby gambling
Analyzing significant mental and physical illnesses in recent football news
Here are a couple NFL and college football stories over the past week of medical interest. I’ve added my perspective on these cases from my experience as a doctor.
DaVon Hamilton Spinal Abscess
A feature article on ESPN went into excellent detail on the medical case of Jacksonville Jaguars DT, DaVon Hamilton. Although his condition started during preseason joint practices with the Lions in 2023, the Honolulu Blue Flu can’t be blamed for this one.
The symptoms included severe back pain with leg numbness. Imaging results revealed a “spinal epidural abscess with severe spinal cord compression” - a condition that risked permanent paralysis.
Hamilton ended up having surgery to drain the abscess, along with 8 weeks of antibiotics delivered through a PICC line.
You may recall that recently-signed Lion, DJ Wonnum, developed severe complications with his PICC line, causing life-threatening blood clots…
Fortunately, doctors were able to diagnose and treat Hamilton’s spinal condition in time to avoid any significant long-term complications. He was able to make a successful return to football and has played 2.5 NFL seasons since.
⚕️Medical Perspective on Hamilton’s Case
Abscesses are pockets of infection in the body that can enlarge rapidly, and thus need to be treated urgently. It’s a common issue I’ve seen and managed frequently in urgent care. Even a short delay in treatment for Hamilton could have been problematic. Kudos to the medical staff here.
What makes Hamilton’s case especially interesting is the very rare nature of his diagnosis. It’s not something you would suspect in a young, healthy, elite athlete.
"After presenting to our [physicians] society, all of the doctors I spoke with, including the most tenured and newer physicians, had not seen this in an NFL athlete,"
-Jaguars team physician Kevin Kaplan
The rare nature of a diagnosis can present a big challenge - and dilemma - for doctors.
The expectation from much of society is to catch every possible medical issue - no matter how unlikely or unexpected. The reality is it’s impossible for doctors to catch everything immediately. With a rare or unexpected illness, a delay in finding the correct diagnosis is common.
This frank reality is still a source of angst from the doctor’s perspective, as any “miss” or even a delay in diagnosis can result in penalties, licensure restrictions, and lawsuits. And of course, no doctor wants to see a patient have a bad outcome.
The very high expectations - and very high consequences - will cause doctors to order labs, imaging, and other procedures to try to rule-out these rare diagnoses. This drives up the cost of healthcare and leads to what some may call “unnecessary” tests that can cause stress, turmoil, and discomfort for patients.
The challenge for the doctor is finding a balance between the risk of missing an unlikely diagnosis vs ordering an excessive number of tests. Ordering too many tests on patients is not a good thing. Missing or delaying a diagnosis is not a good thing either.
This doctor dilemma is similar to Dan Campbell’s 4th-down decisions - you are playing the probabilities, there is a lot of uncertainty, and you won’t get every decision right. It’s easy to second-guess 4th-down decisions - or doctor decisions - once you have access to the results.
While football fans may lament every 4th-down call that goes wrong, in the medical world, the consequences can be much more severe for the patient and the doctor.
Brendan Sorsby Gambling Addiction
Texas Tech QB, Brendan Sorsby, is one of the top prospects for the 2027 NFL Draft. With a good college season, many expect he could go in the 1st round and even #1 overall.
However, there is a massive roadblock that could jeopardize his career.
In April of 2026, Sorsby checked into an inpatient treatment program for gambling addiction. According to this detailed ESPN report, he had been gambling on his own team’s college football games while at Indiana University and has placed thousands of wagers across a variety of sports.
While most football medical issues are physical, some could be considered mental - like ones involving addiction.
The brain is a physical organ that uses neurotransmitter chemicals to function, so it’s debatable whether there is an actual distinction between a mental issue and a physical one. Regardless, it’s helpful to classify them separately since the brain is a unique organ and the treatment is vastly different.
⚕️Medical Perspective on Sorsby’s Gambling
Let’s define what inpatient vs outpatient treatment means. Inpatient treatment means he is living in a facility, which presumably limits his access to things that could cause a relapse - like the internet, cell phones, access to certain people, etc.
Outpatient treatment means he is living at home and visits medical professionals as necessary - like for a sports physical or a sprained ankle. Both inpatient and outpatient treatments can include medications, counseling, and behavioral therapy.
Inpatient treatments can be very valuable for mental health issues like eating disorders and drug addiction due to the round-the-clock observation and care. I have worked in inpatient psychiatric facilities and have seen the benefits for people with severe, life-threatening illnesses like anorexia.