NFL’s Jets Focus on Injuries with New Health Department

The New York Jets are hoping to get ahead of future player injuries with the opening of a new Athletic Care and Performance Department.

The new initiative will be overseen by Dr. Brad DeWeese.

“After a thorough review of our sports performance areas, it became clear that in order to maximize our player’s health, safety, and effectiveness on the field, we needed to establish a centralized group that would better position our team for success,” Jets general manager Joe Douglas said in a team statement. “During our search for the right person to lead this group Dr. Brad DeWeese impressed us, not only with his proven track record, but also with his vision, insight, and strategic approach to maximize athletic care and performance.”

DeWeese will end his tenure as the assistant athletic director for Sport Performance at East Tennessee State’s athletic department.

“We are sincerely going to take an objective approach to training and performance first,” Dr. DeWeese said of his goals in the same statement. “Our job is to make sure when Coach Saleh looks down the sideline, he has the maximum number of players available and that those players are going to be strong and they’re going to be fast. And we are going to look under every rock and make sure everything we do is sound. We’re going to maximize the training from the weight room with what I call a sprint-based model.”