Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

I agree we still have talent, but it appears Nick won't be on the roster. Wilfork came to mind then I looked at his numbers....the Texans D was good but he was not. Tony McDaniel?

Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

Might come down to this:

Non-Football Injury List (NFI) – This list is available for players who are injured or have an illness that is not related to football activities. The NFL and NFLPA have agreed that any injury – even workout or conditioning injuries – that occur away from the team’s facilities are considered “Non-football”. If a player is placed in NFI, he will not be paid while he remains on NFI. NFI works similarly to PUP, in that the player must sit out the first 6 weeks of the season and cannot practice with the time during that time. After week 6, the player can practice with the team for 3 weeks and must be activated to the 53-man roster by week 9. If the player isn’t ready to return by week 9, he can remain on NFI or be placed on IR. If he remains on NFI, he continues to be unpaid. If he is placed on IR, he will be paid for the remainder of the season.

Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

Post Mandatory Mini-camp will probably be the first time-frame that the Saints personnel decision makers even seriously assess the roster and have discussions if they need another 3-tech or NT...

Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

The Hank Gathers scenario really isn't the same at all. As long as the condition is known it can be treated. Gathers' condition wasn't known until after his death. If they had known, measures could have been taken to allow him to play safely.

Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

Hank had a congenital heart defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which was prescribed prior to his death. As for Nick, apparently he saw a doctor who discovered something either new or old that was concerning enough to keep him away from a football field & now hearing team mates not being able to contact via phone. Red flags ... I used Gathers name because he was a notable athlete who had heart concerns (enlarged heart/rhythm abnormalities).

I'm prepared for the worst but hoping for the best with Nick and his health.

Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

Probably misspoke when they said "enlarged heart." Enlarged heart is a general term that is most often the result of heart failure. Unlikely but not impossible.

They probably mean hypertrophied heart, in which the myocardium thickens past normal variance to the point where the it causes the chambers to reduce in size.

The smaller heart chambers can't efficiently pump the amount of blood the body requires, so it tries to compensate by increasing the heart rate. Anyway, eventually it will wear out and/or could develop an arrhythmia trying to keep up with the demand. (Which at these later stages if left untreated will lead to heart failure, and subsequent "enlargement" of the heart.)

Either way, not as easy to deal with as holes in the heart.

Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

From any angle, this is serious.

Re: Fairley has possible career ending heart condition
 

So Nick's career is over, do we still have to pay him?

Good luck staying healthy Nick, this doesn't sound good at all.