Does Devon Dampier’s running make him more likely to be injured? A look at the data.

Are Utah football’s stars at a higher risk of injury due to the roles they play on the field?

That’s what I wondered in two particular cases: star quarterback Devon Dampier and apparent two-way receiver/defensive back Smith Snowden. Both provide an element to Utah that turns a position of weakness into a position of strength — Utah’s backup quarterback situation is somewhat sketchy, as is the Utes’ wide receiver and defensive back depth.

Given that, I figure it’s fair to worry about both.

But is it accurate to worry about both? Or to put it more precisely: Are their injury risks larger than normal as a result of the roles they play?

I tried to figure that out, with the best data we have on the subject.

Are running quarterbacks more likely to get hurt?

For Dampier, the concern is about his extremely useful penchant for running the ball and getting extra yards with his feet. And after Utah’s history of quarterback injuries, it’s understandable to squirm a little bit every time Dampier is tackled.

But is it really that dangerous for his availability?

I couldn’t find any data on this at the collegiate level. There was, however, data for the NFL.

Former Baltimore Ravens employee and BYU grad Sarah Ellison looked into the topic on FilmStudyBaltimore.com, analyzing all NFL quarterbacks who started at least 16 games from 2010 through 2019. She split them into six categories, based on how likely they were to run over the course of their NFL careers.

Interestingly, it was the quarterbacks who ran the most and the least who were less likely to miss time due to injury than the rest, which doesn’t seem to point to a correlation between running and injuries.

Then, with an assist from John Verros, the injury coordinator at Sports Info Solutions, Ellison looked at the play-by-play data from 2017-19 to see if particular plays were more likely to lead to injury.

Here were the rates they found:

In other words, it looks like staying in the pocket and getting hit is actually somewhat more dangerous than getting out of the pocket and being tackled.

Dampier’s shown an ability to avoid those hits. In 2024, with New Mexico, he dropped back to pass 435 times, was pressured 98 times, but was only sacked four times. Compare that to Utah’s main quarterback last year, Isaac Wilson: He dropped back far fewer times (263), but was pressured at a higher rate (94 pressures), and was sacked a whopping 19 times. (All stats from PFF.com)

Of course, this isn’t to say an injury to Dampier isn’t possible — of course it is. But Dampier’s ability to avoid contact in the pocket where injuries frequently occur should actually serve him well, not make it more likely he’s hurt.

Will Smith Snowden’s impact on offense be more likely to get him injured?

Smith Snowden was the surprise star of Utah’s offensive attack vs. UCLA, with six receptions and three carries to make him Utah’s leading quick threat. That’s despite, of course, Snowden being a defensive back prior to now in his career with Utah. On Saturday, that meant 22 snaps offensively and 23 snaps defensively for Snowden.

Which leads to a reasonable question: Is Snowden more likely to get injured now as a result of this new role?

It’s a fair point from the man with the D.B. Cooper (RIP, presumably) avatar and handle. But it also might be reasonable to expect different positions to have different levels of injury.

The NCAA does keep track of injury risk, and found more injuries at defensive back than any other position from 2014-2019 countrywide. 17.8% of total injuries were from DBs, while only 11.2% were from receivers and 10.2% from running backs.

Except, they didn’t keep track of this on a per-player basis. On any given football roster, and on most plays, there typically are more DBs (we’re counting safeties and nickels here, remember) than any other skill position. So, of course, there are going to be more injuries from that group.

There are a couple of studies that have looked at injury rates at individual programs, though those programs tend to stay anonymous for player privacy. One from November 2017, for example, found running backs to be most likely to be injured at practice, and wide receivers most likely to be injured during games, when compared to any other position.

We can again get more information by looking at other levels of football. A high school study of 10,100 injuries reported by athletic trainers from 2005-2010 found offensive players were more likely to be injured than defensive ones by a 51.5% to 41.7% margin (the rest of the injuries occurred on special teams). Being tackled was responsible for more injuries than making a tackle by about 12%.

In the NFL, cornerbacks had the highest risk of concussions, but receivers had the highest rate of ACL tears.

I think overall, it’s probably slightly more likely to be injured as a ball-carrier on offense than a DB on defense — but it’s relatively close. The shadowy Utah D.B. Cooper tweeter is probably right that the most important facet of injury risk is snaps on either side of the ball. Last season, Snowden averaged 58.5 snaps per game across defensive and special teams; his workload on Saturday was actually a reduction by that standard.

Again, this shouldn’t be seen as an elimination of the possibility Snowden gets hurt. But in this current role, he has a decent to good chance of making it through the season with health on his side.