Will Back Surgery Ruin Teven Jenkins? Not According To The Data

It is so easy for Chicago Bears fans to have an adverse reaction to what has happened with Teven Jenkins. The rookie 2nd round pick just underwent back surgery after missing multiple weeks of training camp. This after he endured similar issues during his final months at Oklahoma State. No doubt this is giving people flashbacks to Chris Williams, the 14th pick in 2008 who also needed back surgery before he ever played an NFL down. Everybody remembers how disappointing Williams turned out to be. The question though was whether the back was the reason for his struggles or was he just not good enough? While Williams did suffer injury problems throughout his career, none of the later ones in Chicago were back-related. In 2010 it was a hamstring and in 2011 it was a wrist. The back problem didn't resurface until 2014 when he was with Buffalo.

Does this offer some hope that Jenkins can get past this issue?

Yes. A few years ago, future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski was forced to have spinal surgery. This led to an interesting article written by Kristin Della Volpe for Spine Universe. In it, she spoke with orthopedic surgeon Wellington K. Hsu of the Center for Comprehensive Orthopaedic and Spine Care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. He studied NFL athletes, particularly linemen to see if spinal surgery had an adverse effect on their careers.

“Before publishing this data, the common thought was that if athletes had spine surgery, their career would be shortened or they would not have as productive a career as they did before the surgery. However, our research certainly has proven otherwise,” Dr. Hsu said, adding that no significant difference was found in the athletes’ performance after surgery as compared to before surgery. In addition, the study showed a higher than expected return to play rate (85.7%) in the 7 linemen who required revision surgery, noted Dr. Hsu.

In other words, there is an 85% chance that Jenkins can have a productive NFL career with no restrictions following the surgery. Ian Rapoport revealed the procedure is already done and was a success. His rehab process has now begun. There is no clear recovery time but based on the information available, one can hazard a guess of at least three months. That means the Bears would be shooting for November to see if he can get back. If not, he will get a fresh start in 2022. [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/From-@NFLTotalAccess-Bears-LT-Teven-Jenkins-underwent-successful-back-surgery-today-sidelining-him.mp4"][/video]

Teven Jenkins issue is unfortunate but not career-ending

That is the key to all of this. He is 23-years old. There is plenty of time to get things pointed in the right direction. It falls on him though to perhaps correct the issues that may have led to the back problems in the first place. Namely how he plays the position. Using his legs more and his back less when it comes to providing power and torque in his blocks. That is where Juan Castillo can be a big help to him. Until Teven Jenkins returns, it falls to others to pick up the slack. The good news is the Bears seem to at least have more stability coming to the line now. James Daniels is back from his own injury to handle right guard. Joining him is newcomer Jason Peters. The 39-year old figures to take over the left tackle spot. While not the All-Pro he was five or six years ago, Peters has proven more than adequate when healthy.

That just leaves right tackle.

Germain Ifedi still isn't back from his hip problem. Rookie 5th round pick Larry Borom is trying to return from a concussion. For the time being Lachavious Simmons is running with the first team. However, one of those two should be considered a favorite for the job if they return within two weeks of the regular season opener. They may yet add somebody via the waiver too but those three names are the ones to watch.