When an NFL starter gets hurt, what actually happens next? Does he come back, how often does he get back to his usual role, and how often does the season run out first?

Pick a position and an injury, and the chart shows how every starter absence with that injury ended, as a percent of all such absences. The five outcomes add up to 100%:

• Back to 90% of usual snaps within 5 games: he returned and was playing at least 90% of his normal snap share in at least one of his first 5 games back
• Returned but still below 90% of usual snaps: he came back and played 5 or more games, but never got back to that level in that window
• Hurt again within 5 games: he returned, then missed time again before 5 games
• Season ended before 5 games: he returned too late in the season to be measured
• Never returned this season: he stayed out for the rest of the season

How to read it: the bars show the odds, not a timeline. For example, across all starters, about a third get back to normal within 5 games, about a quarter never return that season, and about 1 in 6 is hurt again soon after coming back. Injuries differ a lot: hamstring injuries have the best chance of a quick return (about 41%) but also the highest chance of a repeat (about 20%), while knee and shoulder injuries leave nearly a third of starters out for the rest of the season.

Important: set both Position and Injury before running. “All Positions” and “All Injuries” give the full picture. “Back to normal” is a loose test, so it counts a player who reaches 90% of his usual snaps in even one game. It isn’t a measure of full production. Players who return after the offseason are counted under “never returned this season.”

Data: starters only, positions QB, RB, WR, TE, OL, DL, LB and DB, 2016 to 2025 (the 2026 season is left out until it’s complete). Groups with fewer than 30 absences are marked “Small Sample,” and groups with fewer than 10 are not shown. For the production side, see “What a Healthy Return Looks Like: First 4 Games Back vs. Own Baseline.”