Vikings All-Pro LB Chad Greenway Will Have Knee Surgery

When the Minnesota Vikings arrive for the beginning of the NFL’s “official” training camp, they will be short an All-Pro linebacker, as Chad Greenway is scheduled for arthroscopic knee surgery to address joint pain.

Any loss of Greenway would be a gaping hole for the Vikings, as he has been selected to two consecutive Pro Bowls (2011 and 2012), and was given the honor of being named as an All-Pro for 2012. Greenway hasn’t missed a game for the past six seasons in Minnesota, and he has recorded a staggering 765 combined tackles in his career.

Greenway’s surgery will take place on Wednesday, but Leslie Frazier (Minnesota’s head coach) announced the news on Tuesday after Greenway was conspicuously absent from Vikings practice. Frazier was careful to note that the team expected Greenway to return to action before the start of the regular season, but with only 6+ weeks before kick-off, that timetable seems semi-ambitious.

Even with the news, however, the aforementioned history of Greenway’s ability to stay on the field lends itself to a positive outlook. He did miss the entirety of his rookie year (2006) with a knee injury, but with all of the news out of Minnesota saying that this move is “precautionary”, there is reason to believe the organization. As Week 1 nears, Greenway’s movements will surely be monitored, but if his history tells us anything, he’ll be on the field for the first snap.