Bryce Love's medical recheck on his torn ACL left lingering questions ahead of next week's NFL draft.
NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported on Up To The Minute Live that some teams are concerned that Love's ACL remains very stiff.
"That creates some concern for teams about whether or not Love is going to regain his prior movement -- and in terms of his explosiveness -- and even if he does, how long will it take him to get back to 100 percent," Pelissero said.
The condition should not make Love undraftable, but seems to push the Stanford running back squarely into Day 3 of next week's draft (Rounds 4-7 begin Saturday at noon ET on NFL Network).
"There is a specific condition that people have seen before, there is medical literature on it, of that stiffness around the ACL," Pelissero added. "There are different ways you can treat it, potentially another surgery, it would be up to whatever team drafts Bryce Love to figure out what the procedure is going forward to make sure that he's on track."
Love tore his ACL in December, so his rehab is still relatively early in the process. It's pervasively assumed the running back will at least begin the season on the physically unable to perform list, and it's possible the 21-year-old could miss the entire 2019 campaign.
A player who was whispered as a potential first- or second-round pick had he come out after his 2,118-yard 2017 campaign, now appears destined to fall into the later rounds. NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah previously pegged the Stanford product as a fifth-round range draft pick after the ACL tear.
Love's pre-injury production and skill set portended to a productive career. While the running back told NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport on the RapSheet & Friends Podcast that "ACLs aren't what they used to be," the reported stiffness could scare some teams away that aren't willing to potentially wait a full season to see if Love can ever return to form.
The one club that takes a chance, however, might find themselves a late-round steal.
