Jason Taylor almost needed his leg amputated after a game

Jason Taylor is carried off the field by his Miami Dolphins teammates following the final game of his NFL career last January.(Photo: Robert Mayer, USA TODAY Sports)

A year after calling it quits following 15 seasons in the NFL, former All-Pro defensive end Jason Taylor has shined a light on some of the grisly injuries and treatments he had to fight through to stay on the field.

VIDEO: Junior Seau’s final days full of sleepless nights^[1]

In an interview with the Miami Herald, Taylor shares multiple examples of the hardships of his profession, including the time he was only two hours from losing a leg.

Via Miami Herald^[2]:

Taylor was leg-whipped during a game once in Washington. Happens all the time. Common. He was sore and had a bruise, but the pregame Toradol and the postgame pain medicine and prescribed sleeping pills masked the suffering, so he went to dinner and thought he was fine. Until he couldn’t sleep. And the medication wore off. It was 2 a.m. He noticed that the only time his calf didn’t hurt is when he was walking around his house or standing. So he found a spot that gave him relief on a staircase and fell asleep standing up, leaning against the wall. But as soon as his leg would relax from the sleep, the pain would wake him up again. He called the team trainer and asked if he could take another Vicodin. The trainer said absolutely not. This need to kill the pain is what former No. 1 pick Keith McCants says started a pain-killer addiction that turned to street drugs when the money ran out … and led him to try to hang himself to break the cycle of pain.

The trainer rushed to Taylor’s house. Taylor thought he was overreacting. The trainer told him they were immediately going to the hospital. A test kit came out. Taylor’s blood pressure was so high that the doctors thought the test kit was faulty. Another test. Same crazy numbers. Doctors demanded immediate surgery. Taylor said absolutely not, that he wanted to call his wife and his agent and the famed Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion. Andrews also recommended surgery, and fast. Taylor said, fine, he’d fly out in owner Daniel Snyder’s private jet in the morning. Andrews said that was fine but that he’d have to cut off Taylor’s leg upon arrival. Taylor thought he was joking. Andrews wasn’t. Compartment syndrome. Muscle bleeds into the cavity, causing nerve damage. Two more hours, and Taylor would have had one fewer leg.

Yikes. In addition to that tale, he shares anecdotes of having to jam a towel in his mouth “to muffle his screaming” as he received excruciating shots in the bottom of his feet. There was also the time he collapsed in a parking lot outside his doctor’s office sobbing after his back locked up following an epidural shot, the kind usually used on pregnant women.

Taylor made nearly $40 million during his career and set himself up well for post-NFL work in both broadcasting and entertainment, thanks to a stint on ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars.” But there are plenty of NFL players who won’t have that kind of financial success who go through just as much just to keep playing. At the end of the story, Taylor says he’d do it all again. Hopefully he still feels that way for years to come.