Stafon Johnson, the Tennessee Titans rookie who was badly injured in a weightlifting accident at USC last year, suffered a major ankle injury Saturday night in his first NFL preseason game.
Johnson was carted off the field in Seattle with a dislocated right ankle and is likely to miss the entire 2010 season.
Titans running back Stafon Johnson was lifted onto a cart and driven off the field Saturday night in Tennessee's 20-18 preseason loss to Seattle.
He suffered a dislocated right ankle, an injury that almost surely will cost him his rookie year with the Titans.
It's almost as if he is cursed by injuries. Last Sept. 28 he was lifting weights at USC when a barbell loaded with 275 pounds slipped. The bar came down and crushed his larynx, necessitating emergency surgery.
It was an injury that could have been fatal, and for the better part of a month, Johnson had to live with a breathing tube getting him the oxygen he needed.
He worked like a maniac to get his health back, and did enough that he signed with Tennessee as an unrestricted free agent. He'd carried the ball three times Saturday for 23 yards and seemed to be making a good impression when his right foot was caught underneath him on a swing pass near the end of the third quarter.
The entire Tennessee team gathered round and Seattle coach Pete Carroll, who was Johnson's coach at USC, came over to lend his support.
