Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Fans never like to see headlines with key players and surgery mentioned at the same time, but that’s unfortunately the reality for Minnesota Vikings‘ fans and Chad Greenway. The Pro Bowl linebacker underwent arthroscopic knee surgery this past Wednesday, to help alleviate joint pain in one of his knees.
It wasn’t disclosed which knee Greenway had the procedure on, but either way, the surgery was minor. Some fans will remember that the LB tore his ACL during the first preseason game back in 2006, but so far, that’s proven to be a fluke. This is the first time he’s had a notable injury since that day in August nearly seven years ago.
The Vikings ultimately decided it would be best to have the procedure done now, and not to chance the knee becoming an issue later in the season. This is clearly the right decision, because if all goes well, Greenway and his knee should be good as new by training camp.
Minnesota is going to need the veteran linebacker at full strength in 2013, because the team is thin at linebacker. With the departure of Jasper Brinkley, Greenway and Erin Henderson are the only proven veteran linebackers on the roster – but things will even be different for Henderson, as he’s sliding over to the middle linebacker spot for the first time in his career. Both he and Greenway will be crucial to the defense’s success this upcoming season.
There’s nothing about Greenway’s knee operation to read into. It was more of a preventative measure than anything else, and the timing was right to get it done.
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