Whenever he is on the field, Lions second year LB Zach Follett is one guy you know is going to give it 110%. His heart is as big as 
they come however that’s never enough to save a career after a serious injury.
Back on October 17th against the New York Giants, Follett suffered a neck injury while he was covering a kickoff. He lay motionless on the field for up to 15 minutes leaving the field on a stretcher. Although he regained the feeling in all of his extremities, Follett was placed on the injured reserve ending his season.
In an article by Chris McCosky of Detroit News, Follett discusses that although his passion is still on the football field, his body may not be.
“I am just in my second year, so I know I still have a lot to go,” said Follett, whose season and perhaps career was cut short by a neck injury during a game against the Giants on Oct. 17. “But if my body tells me something else, then, you know, I still want to walk and enjoy life. I know football isn’t life, but it’s what I love to do.”Follett, who began the season as the Lions’ starting outside linebacker, continues to follow the team’s rehabilitation schedule. He hasn’t been told whether his neck and spine will heal to the point of allowing him to play.
“I have no answers right now,” he said. “It’s just a lot of learning and rehab and strengthening my back trying to fix the problem.”The problem is that the disc in his neck was damaged and there is very little space between the disc and his spinal chord. Any serious contact to the area could cause paralysis.
“When I got hurt, it tapped my spinal cord — they call it a cervical tap,” he said. “That’s why I lost feeling. Doing the rehab and correcting posture and stuff like that, they said could help the disc retract a little bit.
“Because right now, there isn’t a lot of room between the disc and spinal cord, and that’s the real scary thing.”There is evidence that the structural issues were in place before the on-field collision with Giants’ special teams player Jason Pierre-Paul. Follett had a history of neck injuries through college, which he believes led teams to bypass him in the draft.
“The scariest part was losing feeling in my arms,” Follett told The Detroit News earlier this season. “I was just laying there trying to calm myself down. I couldn’t feel anything at first. Then a couple of minutes went by where I started to feel pinches and scratches on my leg. There was a big sigh of relief then.”The Lions, like Follett, are holding out hope that he can come back and play. But there is no way of knowing when or if he will get cleared. Follett said he expects to have another MRI in the spring.
“When I got hurt, it tapped my spinal cord — they call it a cervical tap,” he said. “That’s why I lost feeling. Doing the rehab and correcting posture and stuff like that, they said could help the disc retract a little bit.
“Because right now, there isn’t a lot of room between the disc and spinal cord, and that’s the real scary thing.”There is evidence that the structural issues were in place before the on-field collision with Giants’ special teams player Jason Pierre-Paul. Follett had a history of neck injuries through college, which he believes led teams to bypass him in the draft.
“The scariest part was losing feeling in my arms,” Follett told The Detroit News earlier this season. “I was just laying there trying to calm myself down. I couldn’t feel anything at first. Then a couple of minutes went by where I started to feel pinches and scratches on my leg. There was a big sigh of relief then.”The Lions, like Follett, are holding out hope that he can come back and play. But there is no way of knowing when or if he will get cleared. Follett said he expects to have another MRI in the spring.
