As the NFL season has gone on, injuries continue to pile up. Stars like Christian Mccaffery, Devin Bush, and Saquon Barkley all missed most of their seasons because of leg injuries. Injuries like torn ACLs and Achilles seem so common nowadays and can really derail a guy’s career and take them out of their prime.

Jason Verrett didn’t just have a torn ACL, and he didn’t just tear his Achilles; he has suffered eight different injuries in his short six-year NFL career, forcing him to be sidelined for 57 of the 96 possible games he appeared in. Yet, somehow Jason Verrett remains on an active NFL roster and has even made a Pro-Bowl. Most guys would call it quits after injuries mount, but Verrett remains as one of the most efficient corners in the game of football when he’s on the field. How can this be?

Circle back to around his high school days, and Verrett was not on a lot of colleges’ radars. Verrett went to school at Angelo Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, California, where he played on the football team as a dual-threat player. Verrett was a very speedy running back that could find a hole and be gone within a flash while also clamping down a wide reciever as a cornerback. Verrett had no college offers out of high school and decided to attend Santa Rosa Junior College and play football. Verrett stood out enough to be labeled as First Team All-Conference freshman year and be counted as a three-star on Rivals.com for JUCO prospects.

After his one year stint in JUCO, Verrett chose to attend Texas Christian University as his transfer school and continue his football career as a Horned Frog. In his first year, Verret had 58 tackles while getting decent playing time, but the following year, Verrett would put his name on NFL scout’s big boards. Verrett would go on to earn 63 tackles and have a team-leading 6 interceptions which helped him be crowned as First-Team All-Big 12 and Sports Illustrated All American.

Verrett declared for the NFL draft after his junior year and was labeled as a first-round pick by many NFL analysts. The stat that mostly pleased scouts was Verrett’s 40-yard dash time, which was just 4.38 seconds; he also had a 39-inch vertical jump and a 10 ft 8-inch broad jump. The then-San Diego Chargers decided to address the cornerback position and with the 25th pick in the first round, Verrett was taken off the board. He was just the 4th corner selected behind Justin Gilbert at 8th, Kyle Fuller at 14th, and Darqueze Danard at 24th.

In his first season with the Chargers, Verrett fought for a spot on the roster early and was named the third CB on the roster. In week two of the regular season, Verrett replaced the injured Brandon Flowers on the starting line-up in a match-up against the Seattle Seahawks, where the Chargers would go on to win 30-21. In week six against the Oakland Raiders, Verrett intercepted a Derek Carr pass marking his first career INT while also sealing the deal on a Charger’s victory as this interception happened to be within the last 90 seconds of the game. After already missing a game in week 4, Verrett sat out the week seven match-up against the Kansas City Chiefs. Verrett tried to push through injuries and play in week eight but this only made matters worse. Verrett would have 1 tackle before leaving in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos. After the game, Verrett was placed on injury reserve for the first time and consequently missed the rest of the year.

2015 would be arguably the best year of Verrett’s career. Verrett would prove he is one of the best corners in the game of football and be one of the game’s best lockdown DB. Verrett would go on to have 47 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 quarterback hit, 3 interceptions for 68 yards and a touchdown, and 12 passes defended. He was also named a Pro-Bowl replacement for the injured Hall of Fame corner Darrelle Revis.

2016 and 2017 would be some of the darkest days of Verretts career. Coming off a Pro-Bowl season, Verrett was ready for more, but injuries came very early in the season which would end up with him going back on IR. After playing 4 games in 2016, it had appeared that Verrett had been playing through a torn ACL that occurred in a week two match-up with the Jacksonville Jaguars. 2017 came around and Verrett only made it through one game before injuring his knee and electing to have surgery which would force him to sit out the remainder of the year.

After exercising to not pick up Verrett’s fifth-year option on his contract, the now Los Angeles Chargers decided Verrett’s time with the team was done, which ended in the termination of his contract. He was then picked up by the San Francisco 49ers but tore his Achilles tendon on the first day of training camp which once again ended his season.

In 2019, the 49ers would go on to have arguably the best defense in the NFL and go all the way to the Super Bowl to lose to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Verrett only appeared in one game during that season after being placed on IR with an ankle injury.

Flash forward to the present day NFL, and this is where Verrett shows us injuries just don’t matter. This year, Verrett has appeared in 13 games with the 49ers, going for 60 tackles, 2 interceptions, and 7 passes defended. He earned his first career interception versus the Los Angeles Rams in week 6 after intercepting a pass by Jared Golf.

Verrett will be a free agent following the ending of this year’s season with the Super Bowl match-up being the Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus the Kansas City Chiefs. Hopefully, a team takes a chance on Verrett and realizes he can still be a star like he was predicted to be.