Witnesses Say Suggs Injured Playing Basketball

When Terrell Suggs was initially hurt this summer many speculated that it was during a recreational basketball game. Terrell Suggs has been adamant that he tore his right achilles tendon during conditioning drills however staff members of the Akchin Gymnasium in Maricopa, AZ state otherwise.

“He got hurt Sunday prior to the [basketball tournament] championship game,” said Herman (Sonny) Hoffman, the director of the Akchin Gymnasium. There was a three-day basketball tournament being held that weekend.

Asked if he believed this is when Suggs injured his Achilles, Hoffman said: “More than likely it was. My staff saw the whole incident. It was the condition you’d describe for a torn Achilles. He had no movement, no step, and it swelled up right away.”

Hoffman said he is required to fill out an incident report related to injuries but Suggs declined help and left the gym.

“Well, I have other staff members that told me the same thing. The people who were scorekeeping, keeping the books, running the clock, they all said the same thing. He did it during the game. It looked like he stepped wrong. There was a collision, and he stepped wrong, possibly on someone’s foot. It was either the Achilles or the ankle because it was in that area. After that, he left and didn’t play.”

However Suggs still remains adamant that he injured himself during conditioning drills. Probably because most contracts contain clauses preventing a player for participating in activities like this where the can be injured. Though the Ravens have maintained that the team would not withhold payments from Suggs no matter how he was injured, conditioning drills, basketball or otherwise.

“Simply not true. I hurt myself doing my conditioning test,” Suggs said in a statement through his agent. “I wanted to make sure that championship game was going to be played in Baltimore, so I didn’t take any time off. After the last game, I left Baltimore and came to Phoenix and started training again. I think the injury is a result of me pushing too hard. I’m not 23 anymore. I’m not 30, either, but there are times you have to back off.”

Hoffman wasn’t the only Akchin Gymnasium employee to speak out. “I was watching ‘SportsCenter,’ and they said he did it during a conditioning test, and I said, ‘What? What’s going on here?’ ” said Adam Bowman, who also works at the Akchin Gymnasium and attended the tournament in which Suggs played. “And then to lie about it … ”

Suggs has a reputation around the league as being an avid basketball player who plays frequently in the offseason. But it looks like the truth won’t be coming out in this one. Suggs is denying everything.

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