{
  "abstract": "Background: Achilles tendon ruptures remain devastating injuries in professional football. While return-to-play rates and postinjury outcomes are well documented, the temporal distribution of these injuries throughout the National Football League (NFL) season has not been systematically evaluated. Purpose: The purpose was to evaluate the distribution of Achilles tendon ruptures across season phases and identify periods of elevated injury risk in NFL players from 2010 to 2024. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Achilles tendon ruptures in NFL players from 2010 to 2024 were identified using publicly available data, including Pro Sports Transactions and team-specific reports. Injuries were stratified based on timing within the season using 4 analyses: (1) a 3-phase regular season model—early (weeks 1-5), mid (weeks 6-10), and late (weeks 11-17); (2) a 2-phase model—first half (weeks 1-8) and second half (weeks 9-17); (3) an extended-season analysis incorporating offseason, preseason, and postseason; and (4) a comparison of postseason injury rates between the pre-Week 18 era (2010-2020) and the Week 18 era (2021-2024). Injury frequencies were compared using the chi-square test and the Fisher exact test. Results: A total of 253 Achilles tendon ruptures were identified over 15 years. Preseason demonstrated the highest injury burden with 85 injuries (33.6%), representing a 3.0-fold higher injury density than the regular season (21.3 vs 7.1 injuries per week). Combined preseason and early regular season accounted for 62.1% of all ruptures. Two-phase regular season comparison showed significantly more first-half injuries ( P = .03). Extended-season analysis demonstrated significance ( P < .01). The Week 18 era did not differ from earlier seasons in postseason injury rates ( P > .99). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that Achilles tendon ruptures in NFL players cluster during the preseason and early regular season, with 62.1% occurring in these periods and preseason representing the highest-risk phase, accounting for one-third of all injuries despite lasting only 4 weeks. These findings identify critical vulnerability windows for targeted injury-prevention strategies, preseason conditioning protocols, and player load management to reduce Achilles rupture burden in elite football athletes.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Advanced Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, San Francisco, California, USA"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Dustin J. Kress MD, MA"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Patrick Waldron DO"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "David Han MS"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ajith Malige MD"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9se8wje21796q.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1177/23259671261488665",
  "fulltext_url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/23259671261488665",
  "id": "9se8wje21796q",
  "issns": [
    "2325-9671"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/23259671261488665",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "lcc",
      "RC1200-1245"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2732|Sports injuries and prevention"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223385372",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-23",
  "publisher": "SAGE Publishing",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9se8wje21796q.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:44:25Z",
      "native_id": "ec07bc742f964dce8592a6f29baf8c78",
      "source": "doaj",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/23259671261488665"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2732|Sports injuries and prevention",
      "subfield": "surgery"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Seasonal Clustering of Achilles Tendon Ruptures in the NFL: A 15-Year Analysis Revealing Preseason Vulnerability",
  "title_text": "Seasonal Clustering of Achilles Tendon Ruptures in the NFL: A 15-Year Analysis Revealing Preseason Vulnerability",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T13:44:25Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9se8wje21796q",
  "venue": "Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine",
  "versions": []
}