According to WCPO's Dennis Janson, two team physicians have resigned, mostly in part to do with agent interference. First a quick background on both physicians. Janson writes:
They both love the game or Angelo wouldn't have devoted the last 12 seasons and Rob 27 years to it. Nearly three decades during which he ascended to the Presidency of the NFL Physicians Society.
With agents needing their players on the field no matter what to get paid during their client's next contract, and doctors mostly wanting to do what's best for their patients, an obvious collision takes place. According to Janson, this, along with having to deal with team interest's, has become too much of a burden.
Dr. Colosimo said that he will miss being in close proximity to athletes at the top of their game but the frustration of juggling team interests against demands of agents on behalf of their clients has gotten tedious.
We can't pretend what the life of a team physician is like. We're pretty sure it would be frustrating, having diagnoses overturned to allow players to compete for the team, with agents trying to get their players on the field to increase their value -- at least in the durability virtues.
However, there has been questions regarding the medical staff in the past. In a posting in August 31, 2010 (which we headlined "Don't Become The Next Misdiagnosis From the Bengals Medical Staff"), we wrote about issues pertaining to Antonio Bryant's physical that should have never been passed to complaints by former players like Chris Perry and Levi Jones. ESPN writer Tom Farrey wrote that in a survey of team physicians, only 19% of the players rated the Bengals medical staff as "good" or better. The second-worst team in the survey, Arizona, came in at 50% good.
And then there was a report that Dan Skuta played the final two games of the season with a cracked back.
We're not saying that either Doctor Colosimo or Doctor Heidt Jr. had anything to do with any of the above issues that faced the Bengals Medical Staff. We simply have no idea what goes on at that level with the team.
But it does seem reasonable to conclude that after Antonio Bryant passed a physical that he should have never passed, costing the team millions, that it would be a cause for change. That, or the team needed fall guys for making the decision of signing Bryant anyway fully aware of the extent of the damage to his knee.