In an interview with Icke on the “What happens in Vegas” podcast, Jakob Johnson discussed his injury and the NFLPA’s plans

Jakob Johnson was unable to participate in the Raiders’ Week 9 game against the Giants due to a concussion. The fullback is still in concussion protocol and is not expected to play in Week 10 against the New York Jets.

In the podcast “What happens in Vegas” with Christoph “Icke” Dommisch, the German NFL player spoke at length about his injury.

“I feel very good. I’m unfortunately in (concussion) protocol because I got a concussion in week eight and now I’m working on getting out of the protocol,” Johnson said.

By way of explanation, the NFL has very strict rules regarding head injuries. All players with head injuries or concussions must go through a strict health protocol before they are allowed to play again.

Johnson: “Working on the return “

Johnson continued on the concussion: “The tough thing is that you can’t treat injuries like that easily, you just have to be patient. I’m working with the coaches in the facility and we’ll see if it’s enough for Sunday,” said Johnson.

He will wait and see, which is certainly the right attitude when it comes to head injuries. Because, as he says himself, it was quite serious at first.

“I wanted to tackle the returner and I only remembered it in the dressing room when I was talking to the trainers,” said Johnson.

Johnson: Football feels like it’s been going on for 12 months

Johnson also has an opinion on the NFLPA’s new plans. The players’ union wants to extend the offseason for the players. Right now, players have to go back to their teams after two months with another month off later in the year.

Johnson says: “You don’t have any time at all in this choppy offseason to let your body heal and train properly. You have that phase in OTAs where the workload is extremely high and you’re actually breaking down more than you’re regenerating.”

The NFLPA is proposing to extend the offseason to five months, similar to the coronavirus era, and only then require the players to return to the teams.

Johnson sees some advantages to this: “You would have five months to heal up and then come back to the teams and then be gradually introduced to the workload from training camp. Scientifically speaking, this makes it much easier to prevent injuries.”

The German full-back is therefore a clear fan of this idea. It remains to be seen whether the NFL will accept these demands. For Johnson, it’s now all about getting fit and proving himself under new head coach Antonio Pierce – perhaps as early as Sunday against the New York Jets.