Seahawks Legend Reveals Horrifying Injury Scare That Almost Ended In Disaster

The cold weather is natural, unescapable part of living life in the northern half of the country.

And whilst for players – and indeed fans – it can cause certain discomforts in-game, it can be a genuine advantage for some franchises.

Cold Weather Teams Have Thrived In The Playoffs

The dynastic New England Patriots were hardened playing in the North East, and were able to grind out tough victories. For the Buffalo Bills, Josh Allen’s lazor arm is able to cut through even the strongest winds, giving them a big leg up in freezing New York home games.

And of course, the Kansas City Chiefs‘ Patrick Mahomes thrives when the weather is coldest- and this came to ahead most starkly during the Wild Card Round of 2024, when Mahomes destroyed Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins in -4 degree cold – the fourth coldest game in NFL history.

And in a recent ESPN article speaking about this particular game, in which the Chiefs came out victorious 26 – 7, a crazy detail from nearly a decade ago surfaced regarding extreme playing temperatures.

Mike Florio of PFF comments that during the piece, a previously unknown, stunning piece of information concerning a very familiar face to Seattle Seahawks fans has come to light.

Former Seahawks Safety Almost Had His Fingers Amputated

It turns out the Kam Chancellor, part of the historic “Legion of Boom” secondary that made it to successive Super Bowls in 2013 and 2014, winning the first and losing to arguably the most iconic play of the 21st century in the second, nearly faced an incredibly serious injury after the ‘Hawks open-air game in January 2016.

ESPN reports that after the game, which was played in -6, with a -25 wind chill, Chancellor knew something was not right

“A few days after the Seahawks’ victory, Chancellor noticed black marks on his fingertips and fingernails. He notified his team’s training staff members, who looped in the team’s doctors to take a closer look. The diagnosis: frostbite.

“I had never had frostbite,” Chancellor told ESPN in a recent interview. “I was like, ‘Wait, are y’all going to cut my fingers off?'”

It turned out that, thankfully, this was not determined to be necessary, due to the fact he had enough “good” tissue left in his fingers – but the healing process was still a steady mountain to climb.

“Chancellor said it took two months before his original color returned and nearly three months before he regained all of his sensation. He also had extensive peeling of his skin, and one of his fingernails fell off.”

The real question for Chancellor that came about was – how did this happen, given the fact his fingers were covered throughout the game?

“Doctors explained to him that sweat inside his gloves likely froze on his fingertips, resulting in frostbite.

“You’re out there playing in that cold weather and you’re out there sweating,” he said. “And then once you take a timeout, you’re standing or sitting down, now all that sweat is on you and it’s cold as hell. So, sweat makes it worse.””

A brutal story, that, thankfully, ended ok in the end.