Carl Nicks' injury continues to be a complete mystery

Carl Nicks' status remains a complete mystery to everyone, even the people who actually work for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it seems. Lovie Smith said on Tuesday that Carl Nicks had "passed his physical" and that he wasn't really concerned about the All-Pro's foot injury. At the time, it sounded like the Bucs were just waiting for his conditioning to catch up after his rehab.

But Jason Licht threw some sand on that fire of hope yesterday, telling The MMQB's Greg Bedard that he didn't know whether Carl Nicks would be able to play this year, and that that position was a concern. But...he passed his physical? That means, like, healed. Doesn't it? No? Anyone wanna clear that up?

In comes Scott Reynolds of Pewter Report, who isn't very optimistic after talking to the ubiquitous Sources, first name League.

I haven't been as optimistic about the return of guard Carl Nicks as others have this offseason. League sources tell me that after two surgeries on his big toe, which was infected with MRSA, he's having a hard time coming back. That information has me pessimistic about his return despite the rhetoric from Nicks about his own timetable in being ready for training camp.

So which is it? Is it nothing to be concerned about? Is he never going to play again? Did he pass his physical? Did he secretly amputate his foot and is just trying to play through it? What the hell is going on here?

Simple answer: we don't know. No one in the media knows. The team physicians may not even know. It's a process we can't really predict fully, because in medicine, rehab can go perfectly -- or it can be a disaster. Things go wrong all the time for very little reason. The human body's annoying like that.

But ehm, why did he pass his physical then?