The Giants may have a serious problem.
Daniel Fells was the Giants No. 2 tight end, and many Giants fans preferred him to Larry Donnell. Fells actually holds on to passes thrown his way and is a better blocker. Fells, however, was absent during the win over the Bills this past weekend, sitting in the hospital getting treated for a chronic ankle issue. While working, the doctors found out Fells had a staph infection, which is serious enough in its own right, but this morning, things took a turn for the worst when it came out that Fells appears to have MRSA.
Daniel Fells' staph infection is MRSA, per source. He remains hospitalized. As Tom Coughlin said Monday, it's "serious situation." #giants
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) October 6, 2015
Does that acronym sound familiar? It should. In 2013, the Buccaneers had the same problem. MRSA (real name: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a hyper-resistant strain of bacteria that is taken very, very seriously by the medical community. It’s essentially a bacteria resistant to antibiotics. It requires a lot of care to treat and is potentially deadly. Worse yet, especially for Daniel Fells, is that it’s ended the careers of the last two players to contract it. Lawrence Tynes (the former Giants Super Bowl-winning kicker) contracted it in his first year for the Bucs in 2013, and hasn’t kicked a football since. He’s still suing the Bucs for their mishandling of the situation. Carl Nicks, the star offensive lineman and big name free agent signing for the Bucs the same year, got the same infection in his toe. While his case was lesser and he returned to play a whole nine games for the Bucs over two years, he essentially never really recovered from the infection.
Before that, MRSA had infected the Browns locker room. Over five years, the Browns had six players infected. Both teams did a total scrub-down of their facilities (MRSA breeds in locker room-type environments). The Giants have already gone ahead and scrubbed down their entire facility, but they will have to keep a very close eye on everything and everyone going forward, because the last thing any team needs is an infection of this nature in their locker room. It certainly puts a damper on the Giants, who are finally feeling life after those first two weeks.
Best wishes that Fells recovers quickly and that no other player is in danger.
