Hanson's Season Ended After Hitting Himself With Axe in Jaguars Locker Room

Published on March 21st, 2023 2:07 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


Bizarre wood chopping accident that took place in the NFL locker room. Punter Chris Hanson can lay claim to possibly the most bizarre injury in the history of the NFL:

He hit himself with an axe.

To make the story even more bizarre, Hanson hit himself with an axe WHILE in the Jacksonville Jaguars locker room.

What?

In the early 2000s, the Jacksonville Jaguars were really bad.

After three straight losing seasons, the Jaguars fired Tom Coughlin and hired Jack Del Rio as their new head coach.

Del Rio thought that installing an axe with a stump of wood in the Jaguars' locker room would be a nice motivational tool.

Players would be invited to hit the stump with the axe - Del Rio said that this was to symbolize that the Jaguars needed to "keep chopping" to become a better football team.

People never really stopped to think about the potential safety hazard of a massive 300-pound athlete chopping away at a stump with a sharp axe while in an enclosed area.

Jaguars' punter Scott Hanson decided that he was going to have a go at the stump one day, and the results were disastrous.

Hanson, who had admittedly never swung an axe in his life, took a big swing at the stump, missed completely and planted the axe in his leg.

In fact, Hanson hit his shin with the axe, and the skin along his shin split open completely.

Hanson hit the ground, a pool of blood quickly growing.

The massive cut was packed with gauze, and Hanson was sent to the hospital for emergency surgery.

Hanson, who had played just five games of the season, was out for the year with his bizarre axe injury.

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The Jaguars, who had gotten off to an embarrassing start to their time in the NFL, now had another bit of shame to endure.

Hanson was out for the year, and Del Rio's ridiculous motivational tool had caused the injury.

Needless to say, the axe and stump were quickly removed and never mentioned again.

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Hanson would go on to recover from the injury and play a number of additional years in the NFL.

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