Carolina Panthers Pro Bowl middle linebacker Jon Beason recently underwent shoulder surgery according to his blog.
"I tore the labrum in my shoulder the first time we played Arizona, I think it was in October. And I wasn’t going to sit home through my first Pro Bowl, so I had the surgery done on February 12. It’s in a sling 4-6 weeks and I have to rehab it close to four months. After that I’ll be able to lift anything I want. I just got the stitches out yesterday, so I just started moving it again."
"I put my arm down to push myself up and it kind of collapsed. I popped it back into place and got back in the huddle. I think we were winning, 24-23, and two plays later I made an interception that led to a field goal and we won the game. It’s funny how certain players can play through pain and some can’t. I have values for the parts of my body. In terms of my wings—shoulder, elbows, hands—it’s not negotiable. Unless it’s sticking through the skin or bleeding bad, I’m staying in the game. It was eight or nine weeks into the season, I was thinking about the playoffs, going to the Super Bowl, making the Pro Bowl. There was no way I was going to come out of the game ever. The rest of the season I rehabbed it and treated it. It popped back out a couple more times, and I was basically playing with no strength. When I tackled someone it was almost like throwing a pillow at them. I had no grip in that arm, no way to stop someone. I played like that the rest of the season, just fighting to get the job done. It took away my range of motion. But I know my teammates would do the same for me."
This might have affected Beason’s play and that could have had a major bearing on the defensive problems down the stretch and against Arizona in the playoffs. Beason, being the player he is, stuck it out.
He says he just had the surgery on February 12 but that the rehab should only take about four months and he should be back and ready for training camp. He closed with these thoughts:
"I have to make sure there are no setbacks. We have new defensive coaches, new schemes. It will be a process learning that stuff and getting acclimated to new terminology. I just want to let Panthers fans know that there’s no quit in us. Continue to believe in this team, in our coaches. We’re going to keep going at it and we’re never going to stop. There’s a breakthrough coming real soon."