NFLPA: Chiefs’ Training Staff’s Handling of Kyle Van Noy’s Eye Injury ‘Unfortunate’

Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacekFeatured Columnist IVSeptember 12, 2024

Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy was not happy with how the Kansas City Chiefs’ training staff handled his fractured orbital bone during last Thursday’s season opener, and he isn’t the only one.

“I think this was an unfortunate situation,” NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell said Thursday, per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “Thank God for Kyle’s situation [that] it wasn’t worse. But here we are with the first game of the season, we got many more games to play. We just can’t have that.”

He also said, “We’ve done our investigation. We’ve made the necessary parties aware of how we’ve got to improve, and I’m sure we will improve.”

The NFL fired back at this claim, however, defending the actions by the medical staffs.

“It’s disappointing the NFLPA would publicize unsupported conclusions without attempting to understand the facts,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a prepared statement, per Hensley. “We have reviewed the case with the Chiefs’ and Ravens’ medical staffs and are comfortable he received appropriate care.”

Howell’s comments come after Van Noy expressed his displeasure with the entire situation and revealed it took trainers an entire quarter before fully evaluating him.

“I was disappointed in the way the training staff of the Chiefs handled the situation,” Van Noy said, per Kyle Phoenix of SB Nation. “When things like that hurt, especially something that could be serious like mine was, you’re supposed to rely on the team’s training staff or their doctors and I was supposed to see an ophthalmologist—which is somebody who checks out eye(s), performs eye surgery and they took an entire quarter to get down to talk to me in the locker room. Which, to me, is unacceptable.”

He wasn’t pleased with what he saw as a lack of urgency.

“Because then you start thinking, ‘what if I was trying to go back in the game? What if I was really really hurt?’ I know mine was moderate but it’s still serious because it’s an eye [injury],” he said. “And your expectation of someone to be down there as the training staff asked them to be down there would have had a little more urgency. The way it took time was super unprofessional to me. Especially because there were people in there too. One of the doctors, or the friend of the doctor was in there double-cup fisted, styrofoam cups like everything was good and I just felt that was unprofessional.”

Van Noy is yet to return to practice following the injury.

This situation came after the Chiefs made headlines in the offseason by receiving an “F” grade for training staff in the NFLPA’s team report cards. The team’s training staff was also rated as the worst in the NFL.

“I understand how Kansas City, the players have given that training room an F. Because with my experience, I would have probably gave them an F, too,” Van Noy said. “Yeah, they ended up figuring a little bit, but it was just, the unprofessionalism.”

Kansas City ended up winning the game 27-20, and Van Noy was eventually ruled out after exiting.

The Ravens have not officially ruled out the linebacker for their Week 2 game against the Las Vegas Raiders, but they revealed he once again did not participate in practice Thursday as he nurses his eye injury.