Ryan Clady Partially Tears Patellar Tendon, Will Miss Three Months

Football Outsiders has a handy injury database and tracked the history of torn patellar tendons to determine when Broncos LT Ryan Clady might return.

Their results show that no player in NFL history has missed less than six months with a torn patellar tendon. In fact, only one player with a torn patellar tendon hasn’t missed the entire season.

Now that it’s been determined that Broncos LT Ryan Clady was injured in a pick-up basketball game, the question becomes what will the Broncos do?

Some contracts are written up to protect the team in the instance a player is injured in a non-football-related activity. SB Nation’s Mile High Report pulled out the CBA and did some digging.

A small bit of good news for the Broncos and their fans, but even more so Ryan Clady: the left tackle suffered only a partially torn patellar tendon, which explains why he is only expected to miss three months, as compared to the entire season, which was originally feared.

Clady underwent surgery for the injury on Tuesday.

Pro Football Talk reported that Broncos LT Ryan Clady tore his patellar tendon playing basketball.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirms that report and reports that Clady is telling people that he will miss three months.

Things just went from bad to worse for the Denver Broncos. According to Pro Football Talk, LT Ryan Clady tore his patellar tendon playing basketball.

What does this mean for the 2010 season?

Mike Klis of the Denver Post reports, citing sources, that Clady injured the patella tender in one of his knees during a non-football-related activity. We’re not sure what that activity was.

The extent of the injury is unknown at this point.