Although we knew on Sunday that Chargers linebacker Manti Te’o was lost for the season with a torn Achilles tendon the Bolts finally put him on Injured Reserve on Wednesday. To take his place on the roster San Diego added inside linebacker Korey Toomer, who was signed off the Raiders practice squad.
Toomer has played 18 career NFL games dating back to 2010, mostly on special teams. The Bolts will likely be leaning on some combination of Jatavis Brown, Nick Dzubnar and Josh Perry to fill Te’o’s spot next to Denzel Perryman.
Brown was among the players limited in practice on Wednesday. He has a hamstring ailment, just like defensive end Joey Bosa. Right tackle Joe Barksdale has a foot injury and also missed part of the practice session.
Safety Jahleel Addae, tight end Antonio Gates, cornerback Brandon Flowers and left tackle King Dunlap all missed practice on Wednesday. Dunlap is the one that really catches your attention.
He shows up on the injury report with an “illness,” something that kept him out of Sunday’s game in Indianapolis. But head coach Mike McCoy offered clarification on what exactly Dunlap is dealing with.
“King is being treated for migraines,” said McCoy.
Dunlap has a history of concussions so McCoy was asked if the migraines were related to the traumatic brain injury. Now keep in mind McCoy has often used the phrase “I’m not a doctor” when asked about his players and their injuries, most famously in 2014 when it was revealed that Philip Rivers was playing with a severe rib injury.
But this time McCoy went ahead and offered a medical opinion: “This is not linked to concussions,” said McCoy. “It’s migraines.”
Concussions and migraines are two very different things and treated differently but it’s interesting McCoy would choose this medical topic to address specifically because his assertion that Dunlap’s migraines are not linked to concussions might be wrong.
A study by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (the same facility that assisted Dr. Bennett Omalu in his discovery of CTE) published earlier this year tested this very thing. Researchers were looking for ways to determine if there is a diagnostic test to determine whether or not patients who suffer a concussion will develop post-traumatic migraines.
The study looked at 74 concussion patients, including 57 with post-traumatic migraines, with the goal of adding another kind of brain scan to common MRI tests. It may be a way to help prevent those predisposed to post-traumatic migraines from enduring them, or at least lessening the severity and frequency.
So while we don’t know if Dunlap’s migraines are tied to his concussions we don’t know if they’re not, either. Of course the bottom line here is Dunlap is one of the best linemen on the roster and a positive locker room influence so we wish him a quick and speedy recovery.
