Medical tidbits: Detroit Lions ACL data, Bo Nix ankle, Gardner Minshew ACL
Lions have an encouraging ACL tally for 2025
Bo Nix Ankle Fracture: Unusual Injury or Injury Prone?
Nix suffered a surprise ankle fracture in the playoffs which required surgery and ended his season. On video, it appeared to be an unusual, fluky mechanism of injury. However, given his history of 2 ankle fractures, it raised suspicion that Nix may have an underlying predisposition to the injury.
Head coach Sean Payton appeared to confirm that there was indeed an underlying predisposition: “The doctor said this was going to happen sooner or later.”
However, Nix firmly disputed his head coach by saying there was no predisposition to the injury.
How to reconcile this?
There are a couple possibilities. A lot of medicine is a gray area which is subject to different interpretations and nuances. Semantics can come into play as well. Payton basically gave a direct quote from the doctor which seems credible.
I suspect that Nix likely did have a pre-existing issue with the ankle but the degree of the issue and how much impact it had on his fracture may be open to interpretation.
The other likely possibility is that Nix simply does not want others to feel that he has a predisposition to injury. This perception might matter when it comes to contract negotiations in terms of length of contract, incentives, guarantees, etc. He will be eligible for an extension after the 2026 season and certainly hopes to land a top-of-the-market QB deal.
We saw a similar scenario play out with Kerby Joseph’s knee when a report came out that seemed to directly contradict what Dan Campbell had stated earlier. For more details on that, click below…
Gardner Minshew Injury: Bone Bruise vs. ACL Tear
Minshew initially was thought to have torn his ACL in a game on December 21, 2025. But a few days later, it was found out that he did not actually tear his ACL. Now, a little more than a month later, he is reported to be healed and ready for free agency.
The Minshew case is a good example that sometimes it’s not clear-cut whether an ACL is torn or not. Physical exams like the Lachman test, drawer test, and pivot shift test are not perfect.
In similar vein to recent Lions history is Levi Onwuzurike’s ACL injury. Dan Campbell had implied that the injury was present during the 2024 season and led to a surgical repair in the 2025 offseason. The Lions clearly were not anticipating a surgery as they had given Onwuzurike a 1-year contract earlier that offseason.
ACL’s usually are a straightforward issue, but the Onwuzurike and Minshew cases show that sometimes they are not.
Speaking of ACL’s…
The Detroit Lions had zero ACL tears in 2025
While there has been plenty of rightful consternation about the Lions injuries, it’s important to recognize the positives. The Lions completely avoided an ACL tear during the 2025 season. NFL teams average 1-2 per season.
The Levi Onwuzurike ACL repair in the 2025 offseason is something that is suspected to have started during the 2024 season as a partial ACL. Thus, I would not include that in the 2025 statistics.
While there were no ACL tears last season, there were quite a number of hamstring strains. Read my analysis of the Lions hamstring injuries below…
Detroit Lions hamstring injury analysis 2024-2025: Data, Patterns, and Field Surface Analysis
Many readers have had questions about the Lions multiple hamstring injuries over the past 2 seasons. The loss of DJ Reed for almost 2 months in 2025 was a big catalyst.
Really solid breakdown of the ACL data. The Lions zero tear record highlights how much injury prevension work happens behind the scenes. I like how the Nix situation shows how tricky these predispostion assessments can be, especially with contracts involved.