The heart condition that caused Mississippi State defensive end Montez Sweat to slip on the draft boards of several NFL teams might have been misdiagnosed.
Sweat was diagnosed at the NFL scouting combine in March to have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but projected top-10 pick subsequently has been told by an expert he does not suffer from the affliction.
According to NFL network insider Ian Rapoport, when doctors at the combine measured the thickness of the wall of Sweat’s heart, they mistakenly might have included the papillary muscles, leading to the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is described by the Mayo Clinic as the thickening of the heart wall, thereby making it harder for the heart to pump blood.
Rapoport said a specialist in Houston told Sweat the thickness of his heart wall is actually one-and-a-half centimeters, not two, and within normal parameters.
How this updated medical information affects Sweat’s draft status will be determined Thursday night. The Post’s Steve Serby had Sweat going to the Seahawks with the No. 21 pick in his most recent mock draft.
The 6-6 260-pound edge rusher ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at the combine after totaling 19 sacks over the past two seasons at Mississippi State.