There’s a chance that the New York Giants will start the 2012 season without wide receiver Hakeem Nicks. Nicks fractured his right foot during practice today and will miss “approximately 12 weeks.”
The Associated Press reports that Nicks is scheduled to have surgery this Friday. According to CBS , Nicks fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot while running a route during practice.
The estimated “12 week” recovery period is a rough estimate and the AP notes the fifth metatarsal generally takes a long time to heal. Brook Lopez suffered a similar fracture during the 2012 NBA season. Brooks missed 33 games before returning to the lineup. In 2011, Prince Amukamara broke his fifth metatarsal in training camp in early August. He didn’t return until the end of November.
Having Nicks on the sidelines would definitely hurt the defending champs, who lost Mario Manningham during the off-season. The Giants still have Victor Cruz and LSU draft pick Rueben Randle. New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin said that he’s confident that Nicks will be catching passes at the start of the season.
“The doctors have expressed it as being something that they think will heal very, very well…. (We’re) going to be sitting right up next to that opening game, and we certainly hope that Hakeem is correct in saying that he heals fast.”
Nicks had his second straight 1,000 yard season last year. He had 1,192 yards, a career high, and averaged 15.7 yards per catch.