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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Less than five weeks after suffering a lacerated kidney, Green Bay Packers tight end Luke Musgrave has returned to football activities. And while he won’t play on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, the rookie thinks he has a shot to play again this season.
The Packers designated him to return off injured reserve this week and although he didn’t officially take part in any practices, he began running routes and doing other individual drills under the watchful eye of the medical staff.
Musgrave said he thought something was wrong after he landed on the football following a third-quarter catch in Week 11 against the Chargers, but he finished the game. It wasn’t until he got home that he realized it might be something serious because he noticed blood in his urine.
“I went to the bathroom [and] knew,” Musgrave said Friday. “I put the pieces together pretty quickly, kind of knew that was a problem, called [head athletic trainer Bryan] ‘Flea’ [Engel], asked him if I had to go to the ER. He said yes, so I went and then it turned out, getting worse overnight, so I had to stay an extra night.”
Musgrave said it was diagnosed as a Grade 4 laceration on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the worst.
“Yeah, it wasn’t awesome,” Musgrave said. “Internal organs are definitely a little bit different than your normal football injury.”
A second-round draft pick, Musgrave was off to a solid start with 33 catches for 341 yards and a touchdown in 10 games. After Sunday, the Packers (6-8) have only two games left unless they qualify for the playoffs. Musgrave isn’t sure if that’s enough time to return.
“With these things, it’s kind of weird so it just depends on how I’m doing,” he said. “My goal is to play. That’s my goal, so we’re going to see. I think you can have pain [and play]. The issue is kidneys can regulate blood pressure, you don’t want to reinjure it, you don’t want to have more bleeds, but so far it’s looking all right.”