Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant put on IR, facing surgeries on foot and ankle

Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant has officially been shut down for the season with foot and ankle injuries that will require surgery and potentially jeopardize his preparation for 2016.

Coach Jason Garrett said the team was placing Bryant on injured reserve ahead of Sunday’s season final against Washington and expected him to have surgery as soon as possible. Bryant played in nine games this season.

“I don’t want to get into the details of that,” Garrett said. “I’m certainly not an expert in that area. But it had been bothering him so we just felt like we wanted to go back and look at it. In doing so, we feel like we have to go back and help him get that thing, both the foot and the ankle, healed up. It was not in the best interest of Dez or our football team to have him play this week.”

It will be the second surgery on his fractured right foot, commonly known as a Jones fracture, suffered in the season opener. He missed five games after his initial surgery. Bryant had a bone graft to help the healing process on the fracture to the fifth metatarsal bone of his foot. He also had a stem cell injection in October to enhance the healing.

But Bryant injured his right ankle and left knee against Philadelphia in his second game back.

Bryant played with both injuries the next six games before being held out of last week’s 16-6 loss at Buffalo. He was limited in his ability to run routes, and limited the plays the Cowboys could call on offense. The two-time Pro Bowler had one game with more than 100 yards receiving and only two with more than 50.

“Any time you come back from a broken foot there are going to be issues,” receiver Cole Beasley said. “He probably came back too soon. But that’s the type of guy he is. He wanted to help the team win.”

Bryant’s shutdown coincided with the Cowboys being eliminated from the playoffs Dec. 19.

Garrett cautioned against assuming that the Cowboys rushed Bryant back too soon after the first surgery.

“Whenever a player is coming back from an injury there are certain thresholds he must overcome and we go through that process very thoughtfully with everybody,” Garrett said. “We did that with Dez. Unfortunately, this thing has continued to bother him, both the ankle and the foot, so we’ll address those here in the coming days.”

Garrett said it’s not uncommon for a player to have a second procedure on a surgically repaired bone fracture, especially when a graft is involved. Another graft is expected to be added in the second surgery.

Dr. David J. Chao, a former long-time team physician of the San Diego Chargers, tweeted the same. He said “revision surgery for Jones fracture not uncommon. Happens up to 20% of the time.”

Chao cited Atlanta receiver Julio Jones and NBA forward Kevin Durant as previous examples.

The surgeries could keep Bryant out of the off-season program and affect minicamp and the start of training camp.

“I think all that’s premature,” Garrett said. “We just decided it was the best thing for us to do to not let him play last week and this week, and over the next few days he’ll continue to get evaluated by our doctors. We’ll make the best determination about what we need to do.”

Bryant has 31 catches for 401 yards and three touchdowns this season, the least productive of his career. It came after signing a five-year, $70 million extension in July.

The contract issue kept Bryant out of the off-season program and he missed the majority of training camp with a hamstring injury before suffering the fractured foot in the season opener.

Not being able to practice likely contributed to Bryant’s down season.

“Missing the off-season and having a number of different injuries, he didn’t get the best opportunity to prepare and play like he normally does,” Garrett said. “I think that hurt him and ultimately hurt our football team.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant put on IR, facing surgeries on foot and ankle."