On Thursday Night Football vs the Green Bay Packers, Austin Ekeler suffered an Achilles tendon rupture due to a false step motion. The Commanders who were set to make noise in the NFC lose their veteran starting running back in just Week 2. An Achilles injury is one of the most feared setbacks for any athlete, especially a running back who relies on burst and agility. In this blog, we’ll break down what happened, what an Achilles injury means for his recovery timeline, and how this impacts the Commanders moving forward.
All 7 Achilles ruptures this past 2025 NBA season had the same mechanism of injury, a false backwards step. This motion forces the ankle into rapid dorsiflexion. Data seems to point towards an increased risk of rupture when the angle between the tibia and ankle is 48 degrees or less. The strain placed on the tendon ends up being too much and a rupture occurs. Most ruptures occur following consistent overuse meaning that if observed under a microscope majority of the tendons would show degeneration meaning they were already weakened.
One of the immediate clinical ways to diagnose an Achilles rupture is with the Thompson test. This is done by squeezing the calf of the possibly injured leg, if the foot does not plantarflex then the tendon is almost certainly torn. There is typically an audible pop with the injury as well. Unfortunately, due to the prominence of the injury in sports today many watching could come up with a diagnosis from their couches. Ekeler, once viewed as the pound for pound strongest player in the NFL, now faces a daunting return to his former self at age 30. He will be out for the remainder of the year.
