Greg Olsen injury: How long is broken foot recovery time?

Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen suffered a broken foot during the team’s 9-3 home victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Here’s how long fans should expect him to be sidelined for.

Carolina Panthers fans and fantasy football team owners alike are probably dismayed at the news of a Greg Olsen injury. Now that the injury has been announced, both parties are probably wondering how long Olsen will be away from the action.

More should be known tomorrow, after Olsen has the opportunity to see team medical personnel to more thoroughly examine Olsen’s foot.

The original prognosis from the Panther’s own mouth doesn’t sound promising, however.

A lot of games obviously isn’t either very promising or very clear. At this point, it’s also obvious why neither the Panthers nor Olsen want to put a specific number of games on Olsen’s recovery. Committing to a specific timeline to the media puts both Olsen and the team under an obligation to get Olsen back on the field within that timeline.

It’s possible that complications and setbacks during the recovery process can delay the tight end’s return to the field. Having to explain those setbacks to the media is a situation that both parties would rather avoid. Additionally, it would be better for the team competitively if Carolina’s opponents were in the dark in regards to whether Olsen was going to play.

While Olsen has a history of frequent injuries, he doesn’t have a history of missing out on significant amounts of time over the past three seasons. He missed two games in the 2015-16 season and just one last season.

Exactly which bone or bones that were broken in Olsen’s foot will play a huge role in how long Olsen will be out for. Human feet have 26 different bones, which come with different recovery time frames once fractured. The severity of the break, activity level of the person involved, and other individual factors play into the equation as well.

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Given the fact that there is a lot of demand that Olsen places upon his feet in the terms of playing in the NFL, Olsen could potentially miss most of the regular season if not all of it depending on which bone(s) were fractured. Until more is known, Panthers fans and fantasy owners shouldn’t count on him being active any time soon.