NFL Rumors: Vontaze Burfict has a ‘long ways to go’ in his recovery
The Cincinnati Bengals are feeling a little less optimistic about Vontaze Burfict’s recovery from microfracture knee surgery than they were a couple of months ago.
Bad news came down upon Cincinnati Bengals fans today, as they learned that their promising young linebacker Vontaze Burfict’s recovery from microfracture knee surgery was not going quite as smoothly as had been expected.
Burfict was originally projected to make a fairly swift recovery, and return to the team by the start of training camp. Sadly, that will not be the case. The Bengals are now just hoping that he will be able to return by the start of the regular season, but even that appears to be a long-shot at the moment.
"“Vontaze will be in rehab all the way through the summer,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis told Cincinnati.com. “So, he’s got a long ways to go. He had surgery in January. That’s a surgery that takes a bit.”"
The delay in his recovery time could turn out to be a blessing in disguise, however.
A microfracture surgery is an operation that must be followed up with extreme caution, and being rushed onto the field too early would be an extremely risky move. Also, if Burfict’s track record is any indicator, he should have no problem overcoming this adversity.
At Arizona State, Burfict entered his junior season as one of the top draft prospects in all of college football. One year later when he would enter the 2012 NFL Draft, the narrative would be completely very different.
After a disastrous series of events, including a less than stellar junior season and testing positive for marijuana during a horrific NFL Combine performance, Burfict went undrafted. The Bengals saw his potential, though, and gave him a chance. He responded by making the Pro Bowl after just his second season in the league.
Obviously, recovery from microfracture knee surgery is much more complicated than overcoming personal issues off-the-field and poor play on it, but his perseverance is worth noting at least. Before his season was derailed by injuries last year, Burfict had constantly showed flashes of great potential throughout his brief time in the NFL.
Even if his recovery takes a little longer than expected, I expect the Bengals’ linebacker to return to his Pro Bowl form and continue to wreck havoc for Cincinnati’s defense.
Could the Bengals survive without a healthy Vontaze Burfict?
Maybe. With him, however, they have a dangerous defense that could potentially dominate in the AFC North.
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