10 Nastiest Injuries Of The 2024 NFL Season That Made You Want To Gag
The NFL is a game of grit, glory, and, unfortunately, gruesome injuries. Every NFL season, we’re reminded just how violent this sport really is. These athletes are modern-day gladiators, putting their bodies on the line for the roar of the crowd and the dream of holding that Lombardi Trophy.
And the 2024 NFL season has been no exception.
From bone-crunching tackles to freak accidents that left players sidelined for months—and beyond to injuries that devastated a team’s playoff chances… we’re diving into the 10 nastiest injuries that defined this season.
Let’s jump in!
Find out which nasty injuries had occurred in the 2024 NFL season.
Shaq Thompson (Carolina Panthers, Linebacker)
While Achilles’s tears seem to have become much more prominent in the past few years, they never get any easier to witness.
The fact of the matter is that they are one of football’s cruelest twists of fate. They can happen without warning, and they can feel like a career death sentence—especially for a player like Shaq Thompson.
Thompson, a veteran and five-time team captain, was lost for the season back in September following a torn Achilles he suffered in a loss to the Bengals, during which he went down in agony without contact on the final play of the third quarter.
For Thompson, this was déjà vu in a lot of ways, as last year, he suffered a season-ending broken fibula in Week 2.
That makes back-to-back catastrophic injuries, which is a tough pill to swallow at 30.
Thompson’s future in the league now looks uncertain, and watching him go down was a sobering moment for fans and teammates alike, making this all the more gruesome of an injury to witness.
Brandon Aiyuk (San Francisco 49ers, Wide Receiver)
Following a breakout 2023 campaign for Aiyuk, which had put him firmly in the conversation as one of the NFL’s premier wide receivers, the San Francisco 49ers were without Brandon Aiyuk during the 2024 training camp.
After weeks of holdouts and trade speculation, the contract impasse was solved in late August, and the star receiver returned to the team, now with a new deal and heightened expectations for what he and the 49ers at large should accomplish.
But football has a brutal way of finishing these kinds of storylines, as Week 5 against the Dallas Cowboys was meant to be another showcase for Aiyuk’s electric talent. Instead, it became a nightmare.
The play itself seemed routine at first, but as he turned up-field, disaster struck. Two defenders converged on him, and the impact was catastrophic. His knee buckled awkwardly under the weight of the collision, twisting in a way no joint should. The stadium fell silent as Aiyuk lay motionless on the ground, clutching his leg.
The 49ers now have to hope that he is able to bounce back in full come next NFL season, but at this point, 2024 is out the window, as he tore both his ACL and MCL on the play.
An absolute hammer blow, considering the team was already dealing with a laundry list of injuries to key players, the team lost not just a reliable target but a game-changing offensive weapon.
Without him, the offense has had to lean on less proven options, which is proving to be a daunting prospect in a season where every game has looked like a battle for survival for San Francisco.
Tua Tagovailoa (Miami Dolphins, Quarterback)
Tua Tagovailoa’s story is equally inspiring and heartbreaking.
After a tough start to his career, the pairing with Mike McDaniel has been a match made in heaven… when Tua is healthy, but the fact is that his career has been plagued by head injuries.
And early in September of the 2024 season, it struck again, only deepening the storyline that has followed the quarterback since he was hospitalized in 2022 after suffering a nasty concussion in Week 4 against the Cincinnati Bengals, which triggered a gnarly fencing response, something that the internet dubiously deemed “Tua fingers.”
Now, he has his third diagnosed concussion in two years.
And though the hit didn’t even look that bad at first, seeing Tua’s reaction—dazed, stumbling—said it all.
The Dolphins shut him down indefinitely, sparking fresh debates about his long-term health and future in the league.
Miami’s playoff hopes took a nosedive, too. With Tua sidelined, the team was forced to scramble, bringing in backups like Skylar Thompson and Tyler Huntley.
He is now back under center, and the team looks miles better, yes, but the bigger question lingers: how many more hits can Tua take before it’s too many?
Aidan Hutchinson (Detroit Lions, Defensive End)
The Detroit Lions have done a good job of navigating the slew of injuries during the 2024 campaign, but there is only so much that a team can take… And while he is just one of their many wounded, star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson was undoubtedly the most significant.
It’s rare to see a player as big and strong as Aidan Hutchinson go down in such a devastating way. The Lions’ star defensive end, a frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year, suffered a gruesome broken tibia and fibula in Week 6 against the Cowboys.
Watching Hutchinson’s leg shatter was one of those moments where you feel the collective gasp from everyone watching. But Hutchinson is already making progress. Videos surfaced of him walking without crutches, sparking hope that he could return if the Lions make the Super Bowl.
For now, though, Detroit has to march on without their defensive anchor. And for Hutchinson? The fact that he’s even thinking about a comeback this soon is a testament to his resilience.
Given how nasty that injury was… that would be a ridiculous, almost inhuman feat, but I suppose we shall see!
Christian McCaffrey (San Francisco 49ers, Running Back)
Snow games are one of football’s most iconic spectacles. The swirling flakes, the icy field—it’s a scene that conjures up pure nostalgia for fans and players alike.
But for Christian McCaffrey, Week 10’s snowy showdown against the Buffalo Bills became the backdrop for a personal nightmare that will undoubtedly send massive ripples through the NFL, as the 49ers season is now teetering on the brink.
The 49ers were locked in a hard-fought contest, leaning heavily on McCaffrey, as they so often do when he is healthy.
But disaster struck when McCaffrey planted to make a cut on the slippery field, his knee gave out following a super awkward buckle, which resulted in a torn PCL, which is going to end the All-Pro running back’s season.
Given his previous injury history, both recent and dating back a couple of years, this injury has raised concerns about his long-term durability.
For McCaffrey, this injury is yet another chapter in a career that, while electrifying, has also been plagued by durability issues…
And for the 49ers, who are still trying to win games in the here and now, this was an almost equally devastating blow—and they couldn’t even turn to third-year reserve Jordan Mason, who filled in admirably for McCaffrey at the beginning of the year to shoulder the load as Kyle Shanahan’s ball carrier—because he too went down in that game, forcing Shanahan to really extend his bench in ways he wasn’t expecting to come into this season.
Dexter Lawrence (New York Giants, Defensive Line)
Thanksgiving football is supposed to be a celebration—a day where fans get to stuff themselves with turkey and cheer on their favorite teams. But for Dexter Lawrence and the New York Giants, Turkey Day 2024 will be remembered in a far more painful light.
Dexter Lawrence, the lynchpin of the Giants D, dislocated his left elbow in their embarrassing loss to the Dallas Cowboys, and now his NFL season is over.
For those who haven’t experienced a dislocated elbow themselves, the injury is as brutal as it sounds.
A dislocated elbow doesn’t just sideline you—it completely changes the physical dynamics of playing football, specifically defensive line.
And for a guy like Lawrence, a two-time Pro Bowler and three-time team captain, this isn’t just a physical loss for the Giants—it’s an emotional gut punch.
Lawrence was in the middle of a career year, leading the team with 9.0 sacks and 16 quarterback hits, and now the Giants are left scrambling to fill an irreplaceable void.
There’s optimism he’ll fully recover for 2025. But man, thinking about the sheer force required to pop an elbow out of place? That’s a level of gruesome no one signs up for.
Rashee Rice (Kansas City Chiefs, Wide Receiver)
When Rashee Rice went down early this season, it wasn’t just a bad break—it was another in a long line of injuries for the Chiefs already-thin wide receiver corps.
The freak incident happened when Patrick Mahomes accidentally collided with his own receiver, sidelining Rice indefinitely. Talk about bad luck.
Rice showed his potential last year as a reliable weapon in this Chiefs offense, but his absence has forced Kansas City to make a number of personnel moves to adjust that I’m just they would’ve much rather not have had to do.
Granted, they have rallied to overcome the adversity this far, but this is still far from ideal for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Especially having him go down with such a nasty, freak injury.
Dennis Gardeck (Arizona Cardinals, Linebacker)
Dennis Gardeck’s season-ending ACL tear is one of those injuries that stings on multiple levels.
First, there’s the personal devastation for Gardeck, and he was enjoying a standout year for the Cardinals, leading the team in sacks and playing some of the best football of his career.
And then there’s the history. This is the second ACL tear on the same knee for Gardeck, the first coming back in 2020 after his breakout seven-sack campaign.
The play itself was tough to watch, too… and when he tried to stand—only for his leg to buckle—that is the kind of moment that makes even seasoned NFL fans cringe.
ACL injuries might be routine in the NFL, but there’s nothing routine about the toll they take on players like Gardeck, who’s beloved in Arizona for his leadership and relentless work ethic.
Following this brutal injury, the Cardinals’ defense is struggling without losing its spark plug, and now Gardeck faces another long road to recovery. For a guy who’s overcome the odds before, you hope he can do it again.
Chris Godwin (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Wide Receiver)
Chris Godwin’s 2024 NFL season came to a heartbreaking end in Week 5, and if you’re a Bucs fan, it’s a sight you’d rather forget.
He was carted off the field after a brutal ankle dislocation… Godwin’s injury was as ugly as it gets—and it happened on national television, no less.
To add insult to injury, this isn’t Godwin’s first devastating setback. He tore his ACL late in 2021, derailing another promising season for Tampa Bay. But this one feels different.
And to make matters worse, Godwin was in the middle of a career resurgence under his new offensive coordinator, Liam Coen, showing shades of the Pro Bowl-caliber receiver who helped the Bucs win a Super Bowl.
The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time. Tampa’s receiving corps was already in shambles, with Mike Evans also sidelined temporarily. And with Godwin’s contract set to expire after this season, there’s a real possibility we’ve seen his last game in a Bucs uniform.
“It definitely looked worse than it felt to me on the field. I went to try and get up, and then I felt my legs kind of dragging across the ground,” Godwin said afterward. “[The trainer] was like, hey, you dislocated your ankle, and we’re going to have to put it back in place, and I was like, ‘That’s great. Let’s do it.”
Dang… He’s tougher than me because even just watching was more than I could take.
Kyle Peko (Detroit Lions, Defensive Tackle)
The Detroit Lions have been one of the league’s most resilient teams in 2024, but losing Kyle Peko to a torn pectoral muscle in Week 6 was a blow even they couldn’t shake off easily. The injury happened in the first quarter against the Cowboys—a dominant 47-9 win for Detroit—but for Peko, it marked the start of a long and painful recovery process.
Tearing a pec might not grab headlines the way an ACL or concussion does, but it’s no less brutal. For a 31-year-old defensive tackle, that kind of injury takes a serious toll. Peko had been a key rotational piece for the Lions’ stout defensive line, and his absence creates a gap in their run-stuffing ability.
The Lions have rallied through injuries all NFL season, but losing Peko alongside Aidan Hutchinson feels like a tipping point. Watching a big man like Peko try to power through an injury like that reminds you just how vicious this game can be—and how tough these players really are.
