For 2nd Time in Career, Packers S Sean Richardson Looks to Overcome Neck Injury

In Week 12 of the 2012 NFL season, Green Bay Packers safety Sean Richardson injured his neck and required cervical spinal fusion surgery in January 2013. 

Amazingly, Richardson was not only cleared to return to football in late October 2013 by a Packers medical staff that has proved to be reticent to do just that in the past—recently, safety Nick Collins' football career ended after no team, including the Packers, would clear him to play—but was a valuable player on that team. 

Former Packers safety M.D. Jennings was struggling at the end of the 2013 season, and after his return from spinal fusion surgery, Richardson usurped more of Jennings' snaps until he eventually replaced Jennings outright. 

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

The Packers envisioned Richardson playing an important role on the 2015 Packers, too, paying $2.55 million to match the Oakland Raiders' offer sheet to him in free agency. His role as a box safety would be to help improve the run defense by lending support near the line of scrimmage, and having him on the team this season proved helpful when starting safety Morgan Burnett missed time with a calf injury. 

However, the rest of Richardson's season—if not career—is in jeopardy, after the safety suffered another serious neck injury earlier this month.

After practicing in full on Oct. 7, he experienced neck pain the following day in the same area he had the 2013 surgery: the C-5 and C-6 vertebrae, per Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Richardson was added to the injury report on Oct. 8, and the team made the decision to place him on injured reserve on Wednesday. 

Head coach Mike McCarthy remarked on the support for Richardson within the organization as he once again attempts to do the improbable and return to the field after herniating a desk in his neck for the second time. 

Per Silverstein, the most recent neck injury occurred below the previously fused C-5 and C-6 vertebrae, which is good news for Richardson. The neck injuries that ended Collins' and tight end Jermichael Finley's careers occured at the C-3 and C-4 levels of the vertebrae, and the higher up along the spinal column the herniation occurs, the more severe the injury is considered. 

Still, just because Richardson's current neck injury is less serious than his last one doesn't mean getting back on the field will be an easy task for the young safety. 

While no players who have suffered two neck injuries and returned to the field after the second come to mind, there are certainly those whose careers ended as a result of the second injury. 

Just look at former Packers linebacker Johnny Holland. He herniated a disk in his neck in the 1992 season, underwent spinal fusion surgery, and returned to post a career high in tackles in 1993 before he re-injured his neck in the divisional-round playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys. 

Holland had herniated the disk below his previous fusion, just like Richardson. He never played another snap of football, though he did become a successful linebackers coach.

Cowboys linebacker Devonte Holloman's career also ended after two neck injuries.

In his rookie season in 2013, he missed seven games with a spinal contusion and underwent a minor procedure. Then, in a 2014 preseason game, he suffered a bruise to his spinal cord that, if he wanted to continue playing football, would have required spinal fusion surgery at the C3-C4 and C4-C5 vertebra, per Brandon George of the Dallas Morning News. 

He elected to retire from football instead.

The same may unfortunately be true for Richardson, according to Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, citing a source.  

At this point, Richardson's career isn't over. Not yet. But it did take the Packers 11 months to clear him to return after his first injury, and team doctor Pat McKenzie is known for being conservative.

After all, Holland, Sterling Sharpe, Gary Berry, Terrence Murphy, Tony Palmer, Jeremy Thompson, Johnny Jolly, Collins, Finley and Johnathan Franklin all ended their careers with the Packers due to neck injuries while Dr. McKenzie has been the Packers' team physician. 

Even getting cleared to play by doctors doesn't always guarantee a player will be able to return to the field. After all, Finley was cleared by his doctors in May 2014, yet he remains unsigned. That's a key distinction, as well—a player's own doctor might clear him to play, but that doesn't mean the team doctor will. 

Richardson is 25 years old, has a degree from Vanderbilt and earned over $2.5 million this season. As a competitive athlete, it would be understandable if he wanted to attempt the improbable and return to the field after this injury.

But as a young person with decades of life ahead of him, perhaps the decision not to would be the more courageous choice.