New York Jets end practice early after OL Cameron Clark suffers serious neck injury
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- New York Jets training camp practice came to an abrupt and scary end Tuesday when backup offensive lineman Cameron Clark suffered what appeared to be a serious neck injury.
Clark, 23, was taken by ambulance from the facility to Morristown Medical Center. The Jets announced late Tuesday afternoon that Clark suffered a spinal cord contusion and is expected to make a full recovery. Clark will remain in the hospital Tuesday night for observation.
That was very good news for Clark and for his Jets teammates, who were clearly very concerned after what they witnessed on the field late in practice.
"Football goes away in that moment," Jets coach Robert Saleh said after the injury. "It's about the person and his family, his mom and everyone in his life. So that's what takes precedence in that moment, so football just goes away and you get empathy in the sense that we all have families."
Clark was injured during 11-on-11 drills on the final play of the second-to-last period of practice. It's unclear exactly how it happened, but Clark did not appear to be moving as the medical staff began tending to him with a clear sense of urgency within moments of the injury.
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Moments after Clark was injured, the horn blew three times signaling the early end of practice.
"There was supposed to be one more period but we just cut it," Saleh said. "There was no point."
The team huddled up as offensive tackle Morgan Moses went over to check on Clark. After the huddle broke Saleh stood near Clark and watched as the medical staff quickly called for a cart.
Clark was loaded onto a backboard and then taken via the cart to the nearest corner of the field, where an ambulance waited.
The players milled about on the field as all of this happened with several others going over to check on Clark. They remained on the field until Clark was in the ambulance. Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas spent several minutes talking to the team medical staff.
"I'm an optimist," Saleh said. "God willing everything's going to be just fine. But I guess we'll wait for the evaluation. I thought our doctors were all available and they tended to him pretty quickly and did a really nice job. And now we wait."