Could Giants lineman Nick Gates' Week 2 injury be career-ending?
Nick Gates of the Giants exits the game following an injury during the first quarter against the Washington Football Team at FedExField on Thursday in Landover, Md. Credit: Getty Images/Rob Carr
The Giants aren’t sure Nick Gates will ever play again.
The team’s starting offensive lineman and team captain remains in the D.C.-area hospital where he was taken after fracturing his lower leg early in last week’s loss to Washington and will require further surgeries to repair the damage caused by the gruesome injury. Joe Judge said the team’s medical staff told him that such follow-up procedures are "not uncommon" in situations like Gates’ and that the reconstruction of the bone went well. But when asked if he is concerned that the injury could be career-threatening Judge said: "I’d be lying, from my perspective, if I said no."
"I know he's going to have the best medical care possible," Judge said. "We're confident he'll be able to come back ... But my fear, for any guy who has something like this, is yes, it can be career-ending."
The Giants have tried to keep Gates’ spirits as high as possible through interactions with the team and coaching staff. They sent a contingent of organization representatives to the hospital to visit him and even sent him an XBox to keep him occupied while he lies in his bed.
"When he gets back, we want to keep this guy as involved as we can," Judge said.
Whether or not that leads to his return to the field in 2022 or beyond, though, remains to be seen. There are other possibilities for him to remain with the organization if his playing days are in fact over.
"I’ve had guys in the past who had traumatic injuries and you look down the road and maybe these guys will be involved in coaching," Judge said. "Sometimes we get them involved in the weight room, give them some projects, get them thinking like a coach a little bit to ease that transition.
"Hopefully Nick is about a decade away from that."
Notes & quotes: Gates’ surgery is not the only one to an offensive lineman that the Giants are monitoring. Shane Lemieux underwent surgery to repair the partially torn patellar tendon in his left knee on Wednesday but Judge said it might not be a season-ending procedure and kept open the possibility of the second-year player to come off injured reserve very late in the regular season or, if it exists, the Giants’ postseason … Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who was head coach of teams that had emotional players including Terrell Owens and Dez Bryant, said getting yelled at by Kenny Golladay during Thursday’s game was nothing unique. "That stuff happens on sidelines all the time," he said. "We ask our players when they are between the stripes to compete and battle, scratch and claw. We can't say when they come to the sideline all of a sudden we're choir boys." Still, Garrett said he spoke with Golladay about the dustup. "He and I had a good visit after the game. It was not an issue at all. Going forward there are always better ways to handle things, better ways to communicate, but it wasn't a big deal to me or our team."
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
