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    Carnell Lake On Brandon Boykin: He Had A Degenerative Hip Condition

    By Alex Kozora June 4, 2016 at 02:03 pm


    I know the Brandon Boykin uh, saga, has been at times, a tiresome one, but this is some actual useful information today.

    The Pittsburgh Steelers are holding their Men’s Fantasy Football Camp today. Carnell Lake spent a lot of time with the group and apparently told the team the reason why Brandon Boykin has bounced around the league so much.

    According to Craig Scott, Boykin has, in Lake’s words, a “degenerative hip condition” and one leg longer than the other. Here are the two tweets Scott sent out.

    And here’s a photo of the group in the room with Lake.

    This would confirm the speculation from last month that Boykin was dealing with a hip problem, leading to his release by the Carolina Panthers and the decision of the Atlanta Falcons not to sign him.

    The cornerback was listed on the Steelers’ injury report with knee and groin injuries but never a hip, though if it’s a chronic issue, it would make sense that Boykin wouldn’t be listed.

    I reached out to Scott on Twitter. He told me that Lake prompted the discussion on Boykin on his own after talking about the players he’s coached in the past (Gay, Troy, etc).

    “Ok been asked about this guy all the time. Now that he’s not [with] us I can talk about it a little more.” Scott tells me were Lake’s words.

    Lake told the room he felt bad for Boykin but that he was happy he got his signing bonus in Carolina. Of course, that signing bonus was the minimum of $80K.

    With Pittsburgh, he recorded 21 tackles and intercepted one pass. He still remains a free agent.

    It may have taken almost an entire year but we have finally understood the reason why he struggled to see the field in Pittsburgh and why his free agent market has been as cold as it is.

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    About the Author

    Alex Kozora
    Full-time blogger from mom's basement. Marrying tape and statistics. Chidi Iwuoma is my favorite Steeler of all-time.
    • WilliamSekinger

      Tells you a lot about the state of the Steelers secondary last year when a guy with a degenerative hip condition was the second best guy in that group!

      I wish him well and hope he was smart with the money he was able to make earlier in his career.

    • SkoolHouseRoxx

      Well, there ya go. Hope it’s the last we hear about this. It won’t be, but one can only hope.

    • jconeoone C

      Somehow…..why do I still feel confused?….it must be getting worse at a more rapid rate or something. Dang kind of sucks for him

    • John Noh

      So did the Eagles trade him in bad faith? Or does that responsibility fall solely on the Steelers?

    • WreckIess

      That begs the question how bad did it really limit him? I mean he didn’t look bad at all last season. It’s great to finally have some clarity with the situation though.

    • Alex Kozora

      Painkillers probably (ex: Toradol). They get passed around like candy in the NFL.

    • John Hinton

      Alex – Thanks for this post…this definitely sheds some light on what was a (very) puzzling situation. I wish Boykin the best in his next chapter.

    • Alex Kozora

      Me too, John.

    • Stephen

      How could the Steelers doctors not pick it up? I have the same condition being born with human hip dysplasia and everyone notices I walk with a limp, it eventually leads to total hip replacement,

    • Alex Kozora

      I am confused as to how it wasn’t picked up at the Combine.

    • Milliken Steeler

      Interesting. I wish him well and now, we know it wasn’t a character issue, as his Steeler team mates, also confirmed it wasn’t.

      That being said, it coincides with a question I just asked about another player on a recent article, doesn’t it?

    • T3xassteelers

      Didn’t affect his play last year.. Looked pretty solid to me. Hope he latches on somewhere though.

    • JB Burgess

      It was noticeable last year. I just thought it was part of his gait.

    • Jaybird

      Alex is this something the Eagles can be penalized for not disclosing or is it buyer beware with no recourse.

    • Alex Kozora

      I am not sure. I doubt it though.

    • thomas hmmmm

      Lake may have just gotten himself into some trouble and might just have earned Boykin some free money.. Last I knew it wasn’t legal to discuss a persons medical conditions publicly.
      That could very well be why no one outside of the league has heard of this issue before.

    • Rusted Out

      haha tell that to Adam Schefter. He reported a screen shot of JPP’s medical chart. #club hand #huge contract pulled

    • thomas hmmmm

      If I remember correctly didn’t JPP threaten to sue also? I don’t know if he did or not though.

    • Madi

      I don’t fully buy it. Suppose it’s true. That’s legitimate reason not to sign a guy, because you’re worried he won’t make it.

      But he was already there, already performing well in the limited action he did see, and didn’t AB say he was excellent in practice? It seemed like the whole team, including Boykin, couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t playing. Unless they were limiting him for the sake of his health (which I don’t buy for a minute), why not play the guy? Why is it, “Oh sure he LOOKS great, but he has a hip injury” instead of “Wow he’s playing really great despite that hip injury” ?

      I’d even understand if they chose not to re-sign him despite playing awesome all year. But I don’t understand not playing him while he was here. “He could barely run” is BS. Even if he was in pain, he was running just fine and outplaying our healthy CBs.

    • Rusted Out

      Nope. I’m sure a successful suit would be difficult, and the cat is out of the bag anyway. You may be thinking about a defamation suit which refers to slander and untruths.

    • Rusted Out

      They said it was degenerative, meaning it will continue to deteriorate. Lake confirmed this, and it’s good enough for me. I highly doubt Lake would fabricate something like that. Open ur wallet and buy it. You’re going to have to return those statements sooner than later.

    • LucasY59

      Lake is not Boykin’s medical provider, so the confidentiality is not as protected, it still isnt going to do Boykin any favors, but I dont think he has much he do about it legally

    • LucasY59

      its going to be tough (since he hasnt signed so far) and Lake’s comment makes it look almost certain he wont be back with the Steelers

    • Madi

      I’m not saying it isn’t true. I’m saying where’s the logic in refusing to play him now because he will get worse as time goes by? He was noticeably better than the guys on the field ahead of him. In some cases light years better.

      Is your point that they didn’t want to injure his hip worse?

      By the same logic, we should have stopped playing Heath in 2014, because he was getting worse at that point instead of better. Not because of injury, but his play was deteriorating. Of course we did still play him, because he was better than everyone else at the position, and that was the right thing to do.

    • DoctorNoah

      Crappy thing to do, to discuss Boykin’s injury. Health information should be private unless there is a mandate within the sport to release certain information publicly or else the player chooses to disclose it. Just because Boykin’s not with the team doesn’t give Lake license to talk about it freely.

    • ND_Steel

      My first thought too, interesting to know, but I certainly didn’t need to know…this was not his info to share…Boykin is pretty much screwed as far as getting another shot now.

    • Busforever

      Same confusion for me. He played well in Philly, he played well here, didn’t appeared to be affected by this injury. It doesn’t explain why he didn’t play during the first half of the season, and then suddenly was good to go. A degenerative injury can’t allow that, I suppose (but I’m not a doc). On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine Lake lying about that. This injury is probably true, but I still think there is something else

    • Alex Kozora

      I am guessing teams already knew considering the report that came out when he visited Atlanta that he was dealing with a hip issue.

      I don’t understand why Lake gave this info up, especially without even being asked, but I really don’t think it affects him. Teams already know.

    • ND_Steel

      Probably so, but not guaranteed, Steelers traded for him…just needless for Lake to do this, he’ll likely lose trust and respect for spilling info like this. Don’t need the unnecessary drama and distraction either…

    • Alex Kozora

      Honestly don’t think Lake realized that the info could get out. Not a head coach who thinks about the distraction element.

    • ND_Steel

      Exactly…Lake didn’t think…

    • John A Stewart

      BS in that case what kind of condition Blake have. Every time Boykin played he made a play.

    • Craig M

      And why would Tomlin play Ben when hurt, one time where he might have died, and not play Boykin anyway- played Blake hurt.

    • walter mason

      Golson? If they traded for a player that could barely run, it makes me think the medical staff may very well not have noticed Golsons condition when they drafted him.

    • Lake- just made my “coaches I dont like” list. Instead of running his mouth about WJ3 and boykin, he better worry about getting that secondary coached up. I think he just bought a ticket to the hot seat.

    • GreyFox233

      Wasnt he making some negative comments about our coaches here recently ? Maybe that’s why Lake chose to clear it up now.
      At least now we know and arent looking at Tomlin and Lake wondering why they didn’t play him more. I think taking the heat from the fans to keep his secret as long as they did was a classy thing to do. Doesnt excuse losing a 5th rd pick . Wish nothing but the best for Mr.Boykin.
      Time to move on from this issue and focus on next season with a new secondary.

    • francesco

      Whatever…Blake had a degenerative football instinct condition.

    • Hypo Cycloid

      Agreed. If he can play and wants too, why not? When he can’t perform anymore he gets cut. Booking would understand that.

    • Hypo Cycloid

      Lake should keep his mouth shut. No point in spilling the beans. If boykin wants to talk about it, then fine.

      Also, I don’t care if he has a peg leg. If he can ball, then sign him and play him!

    • Phil Brenneman II

      Lake kind of makes it sound like the dude is dying from his leg condition but he played well for us. Didn’t seem to hamper him at all unless it is an on and off kind of thing. So for me it still doesn’t fully explain the problem with him from last year.

      The coaches kept letting Blake get roasted and play with injury so I am not seeing where this clears a ton up. For me it just clears up his life after the Steelers. Teams know about the injury and don’t want to deal with it.

    • NinjaMountie

      I hope they are passing around more impressive pain killers! You can get almost as much relief from a big ole handful of Ibuprofen as you can Toradol. 😉

    • PittsburghSports

      Is Carnell on drugs? Why is he even talking?

    • thomas hmmmm

      Well he is the employer, so to say, and this wasn’t an injury that happened in public.
      Kind of makes me wonder if somewhere in contracts is a decree about stuff like that.

    • thomas hmmmm

      Maybe IDK.. All I know that entire situation was an idiotic episode.

    • Milliken Steeler

      Yes. lol I danced around that subject as a what if……moment just for the sake of discussion.

    • Gerald Brown

      Falls on the Steelers.

    • The Notorious TOM

      Yeah, ugh. I’m as big a gossip as anyone but this shoulda been kept under the hat.

      Questionable amount of class in this moment.

    • The Notorious TOM

      Bad post.

    • Jaybird

      I think steelers fans would rather have some info on what exactly Golson’s injury is instead of hearing that the bungles got our guy Jackson3rd .And lake also threw the steelers doctors under the bus also , saying it got past them somehow. Tomlinson should be putting a gag order on coach lake.

    • Applebite

      If the DRs didn’t pick up on the hip problem, then you really can’t fault the Steelers for thinking they made a good trade. And truth told, Boykins defended the ball better than that other guy…ummm…damn, I forgotten his name already.

    • The Notorious TOM

      Ladainian?

    • RickM

      I would think if the secondary doesn’t improve this year, Lake has sealed his fate. I don’t know what the deal is here. Was he trying to be the big man with inside info, or did he just forget about being a team guy. Either way it’s not a good look for him to be talking about stuff that makes the team look bad.

    • RickM

      You guys are so bad lol.

    • walter mason

      LOL well its not as if we are talking about an impossibility. Everyone says, no way he couldnt have been hiding an injury. Well we were so desperate for a DB that we traded for a guy that his coach says quote- “He could hardly run, I felt bad for him” And in desperation, we may have reached for Golson in the second round. And he hasnt seen the field yet. Now this past year, we didnt get the player we wanted and reached again for the next best CB… Man I just dont wanna hear any more bad news. I just hope these 2 guys will help our team this year. And Golson can get healthy enough to participate but Im not holding my breath. Go Steelers!!! This is the year!!!

    • Madi

      The injury might well be true, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t B.S.-ing.

      If you ask me, Tomlin insisted on playing Blake over Boykin, and guys like Lake and Butler are left with the impossible task of trying to explain why. So we get stuff like this.

    • Rusted Out

      My point was that you said you’re not buying into Boykin having a degenerative hip injury or not having one. Do you believe that or not?
      Secondly, your comments about Boykin not playing over a $hitbag like Blake because of the “condition”. NO, that is not what I implied at all. That was Tomlin’s brilliance on full display, and I’d prefer to never dig up that dead horse.

    • Carsten Leßmann

      Moin

    • Darth Blount 47

      No comment

    • StarSpangledSteeler

      Bless you, Carnell Lake.

      Thank you for finally giving us fans a few crumbs from the table. After the year of DB agony we had to go through… we deserved it. 🙂

    • mike

      “Tin foil hat warning” seems like a perfect storm for him to end up with the Bengals or ravens outta spite and have a couple picks against us next year to shove it up u know where

    • John Pennington

      If the steelers knew this and sign him away only to lose a draft pick something is wrong somewhere.Hard to believe the doctors didnt know this or missed this if this is true

    • wisconsinsteelerfan

      More likely that they’re using Vicodin or something synthetic like Tramadol.

    • Michael Mosgrove

      he did not play awesome. im so tired of everyone saying this. watch the denver game. he sucked. he was only good in comparison to blake.

    • OIF3gunner

      He is suing Adam and ESPN.

    • OIF3gunner

      He is actively suing them now.

    • OIF3gunner

      I have no idea! Haha

    • PittsburghSports

      Well, so much for him being an ass.

    • popsiclesticks

      Is it legal to discuss Leveon Bell’s knee? Carnell Lake isn’t his doctor.

    • popsiclesticks

      Boykin was the worst corner on the field v. SF. He did not look very good against the Ravens. He’s better than Antwon Blake because everybody is better than Antwon Blake but that’s about it. Any team can have him for the minimum.

    • Arthur Branch

      It was said on the steelers radio show on multiple occasions that early in the season, Boykin had trouble staying on his feet during non contact practice.

    • RickM

      Any guy who leaves the Steelers must be trashed, fairly or unfairly. Fan manual Page 21, Section 4.

    • Jaybird

      Friggin Apple auto correct! Tomlin not ladainian. It took me a while to figure out why you wrote that.

    • The Notorious TOM

      Just busting chops haha

    • thomas hmmmm

      LeVeon’s injury happened in public. . The degenerative hip is not a public injury, nor football related, as in it didn’t occurred from playing football.

    • thomas hmmmm

      I’ll take your word for it but all I remember is the threat to sue.
      Do you know if JPP knows who leaked the pictures?

    • Thomas

      Mystery solved! Just goes to show how bad Blake was when a guy who according to Lake couldn’t even run was better than him.

    • Rusted Out

      Good luck to him.

    • gdeuce

      It seems a little strange that Lake is spilling the beans on Boykin and Jackson 3 at the mens fantasy football camp

    • TheRoyalJester22

      a ton of people have leg length discrepancies…it’s not that uncommon and shouldn’t keep him off the field….I smell poo-poo. Especially the part about doc’s not picking it up. Steelers just trying to cover their tracks and not admit they didn’t know how to get Boykin on the field nor how to use him properly.

    • TheRoyalJester22

      i don’t think it limited him at all…..think the team is just using it to create a story and not admit they were wrong

    • TheRoyalJester22

      Alex and Stephen, these things are so noticeable by doctors, PTs and ATCs. Just watch the guy walk or run (which he did every day) and things will start to look funny, causing further exploration. There’s no way the medical staff didn’t know about the leg length discrepancy.

    • Shannon Stephenson

      Is this something he has always had? Can you all of the sudden get a leg longer then the other? He played well before we got him and not understanding how it has affected him after? I can understand what has happened to him as of now but it just didnt seem to bother him before.

    • popsiclesticks

      Is there a HIPAA clause for “it happened in public”? We know he hurt his knee. We didn’t know that he tore his MCL until we were told. People knew about JPP’s injury….the only legal question was in the actual release of the documents.

      And if Bell’s injury were truly “in public” we wouldn’t need to buy tickets to go into the stadium.

    • steelchambers

      He wasnt second best come end of season. He’s the reason Manning converted 3rd and 16 to beat the Steelers. He was always out of position and was afraid to tackle. Just like Blake. And neither are with the Sleelers now.

    • WreckIess

      I highly doubt that. There’s a good reason why he’s unemployed right now.

    • you erase that fumble and we still have possession. I don’t undersand the deal with steelers and unproven rbs. smh

    • I’m not sure what footage you saw but I never saw boykin afraid to tackle at any point in the season

    • Greg pinto

      He’s not his employer and didn’t show any confidential medical records so there is no grounds for legal action

    • steelchambers

      There were quite a few times and I didn’t just pull it out of the air. Bob Labs pointed out this and showed a short video of what he was talking about.

    • thomas hmmmm

      I’m not a lawyer so I really don’t about grounds for legal action. But I am pretty sure confidentiality means not talking about a patients medical issues to the public. This also goes for employers, which Lake is because he is a Boss or in a Management position.
      Sports is unique because medical issues arise in the public domain, but this issue did not happen in the public domain, which means it is still a private matter. Which common sense says should still be protected by the confidentiality rules.
      Then again most of the precedents of laws don’t follow common sense.

    • thomas hmmmm

      You don’t need to buy tickets to go into the stadium. You can sit on your coach in your undies with a beer in your hand and watch the game.

      So then documents have to be released for it to break the medical confidentiality law?
      So by that standard your doctor could see you at the bar and tell every lady at the bar you have herpes or maybe the secretary of the Doctor does that..And you have no legal recourse because they didn’t release the documents?

    • popsiclesticks

      I don’t why I’m still doing this but I’ll try one more time.

      My doctor, since he is MY DOCTOR, cannot tell anybody anything without my consent. If you somehow got these files from my doctor, yes I would likely have a legal issue, but probably not with you. His secretary is not an exception, she has to follow the same rules.

      If YOU, as a non-doctor, find out that I have herpes and tell every lady at the bar, what am I going to do? Sue you?

      If Carnell Lake finds out that I have herpes and tells everyone in Latrobe, I don’t think there’s anything I can do.

    • JB Burgess

      Hope this puts an end to the blatant speculation about this man’s character and attitude.

    • thomas hmmmm

      I always thought there was a level of protection in the confidentiality laws regarding employers also not being able to disclose an employees medical issues, not only the doctors.
      Since the team has access to those medical records I would assume for non-public health issues those rules would apply to the team.
      Out of curiosity are you a lawyer?
      I have never really looked into this subject so everything I am going off of is assumption.

    • popsiclesticks

      Nope, and I could be wrong as hell.

      But if this were an issue we’d probably have so many cases due to injuries being disclosed. It may be in the CBA.

    • Da Bus Driver

      Ugh, don’t like what this says about our Medical Staff….

    • thomas hmmmm

      “But if this were an issue we’d probably have so many cases due to injuries being disclosed.”
      That is the issue that I am questioning. I don’t know the CBA part of this either.
      I am sure there is an agreement stating that teams can disclose injuries. But this isn’t really an injury.
      Must be that they have a clause in the CBA stating any health issues the team can disclose publicly.

    • Joe

      Let me get this right…Mr. Lake disclosed medical in confidence information to a “fantasy camp” then an attendee posted this private medical information on twitter and the owner of this blog has re-posted it. I am not a lawyer, but I do work in healthcare and know that unless Mr. Boykin has given the Steelers permission to divulge his medical conditions to the public that there are some people who better be hoping that Mr Boykin finds this all amusing and isn’t sitting in his lawyers office planning a world of hurt for the parties aforementioned. SHARING PRIVATE MEDICAL INFORMATION ISN’T A JOKE, IT IS ILLEGAL.

    • spock

      Don’t think the coach would like that.

    • thomas hmmmm

      LOL Probably not

    • Geoffrey Johnson

      yeah, I don’t want to take shots at anyone but as if to act like Boykin wasn’t a valuable contributor to our defense is quite ridiculous to me.. Regardless of whether he has a condition or not the guy didn’t play badly at all.. To say “He was always out of position” is bs because that’s just simply not true.. And sure the guy he was covering caught the ball on 3rd and 16 that kept the eventual touchdown drive going but to act as if even the best corners in the league don’t get beat, especially in today’s pass-happy NFL is just silly.. Sounds like a fan just wanting to justify the FO’s moves.. Me, personally, I don’t care if the guy has degenerative anything, if he can play he can play.. And what I saw from Boykin last year tells me the guy isn’t as bad as everyone is making it sound..

    • Geoffrey Johnson

      Thank you! For everyone to act like he was terrible is ridiculous to me..smh and so many people want to come on here and say things like they’re so happy is gone is crazy, in our backfield he’s not one of the worst..

    • just a sad case. like you said. he can play. a guy with a hip has played in college and now nfl. that’s the best of the best. for a reason. smh. I’m assuming no one wants to take the risk of him being injured further???

    • blake played out of position the minute the play started…..and he still got the start. had that running back not fumbled the ball it would have been a different game. it would have negated a 3rd and 16.

    • steelchambers

      Yes his head was turned at first. Like he was looking for Where he should be playing. It let the Wr blow by him. If he had made a play, like cover that guy he would have been fine. Don’t get me wrong he was good at coverage. And young, he would have only gotten better. But to keep your body out of harms way and make arm tackles was hard to watch. Just like Blake.

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