Jets Continue to Battle Injury Bug

Eric Decker expects to be ready to run routes when next season kicks off for the Jets, following his two trips to a surgical repair shop for major injuries — partially torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder and a torn labrum in his hip.

- Brian Heyman

The receiver will bring those reliable hands back to the field, but will he have lost a step for his age-30 season after the hip operation?

“That’s always unpredictable,” said Dr. David Geier, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist based in Charleston, S.C. “We haven’t been doing those that long. We expect athletes to get back to 100 percent, but it’s always possible when you’re talking about a lower extremity joint … potentially that’s problematic.

“So I won’t promise any athlete that he’ll get full speed back. But it’s likely he’ll get back to 100 percent.”

The Jets have dealt with their fair share of injuries, including those suffered by Decker, Geno Smith, Muhammad Wilkerson, Breno Giacomini and Khiry Robinson to name a few.

It was originally believed that Decker had only one thing wrong. The seventh-year pro and third-year Jet hurt the shoulder on a bad landing Week 2 at Buffalo, then struggled with the injury while playing the full game the following week at Kansas City.

Decker missed the next two weeks, hoping all the while that he would heal enough to return this season. But that didn’t happen. Coach Todd Bowles said it was getting worse. So Decker ended up having a three-game season. The Jets put him on IR, Oct. 12.

When Decker’s shoulder issue was being checked, he was asked if he had any other issues. He mentioned the hip. It had bothered him since his days running routes for Denver. The tear was then discovered.

So he had the hip surgery, Oct. 18, and planned to get the shoulder done a few weeks later when he was off his crutches.

The recovery for the hip was announced as six months. The recovery for the shoulder was announced as eight months.