Dec 24, 2016; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Jacksonville Jaguars outside linebacker Telvin Smith (50) speaks to Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) following a leg injury during the third quarter of an NFL Football game at EverBank Field. Photo Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota will have surgery on Wednesday to have a plate inserted into his broken right fibula.
The surgery will be performed by Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, N.C., and Mariota is expected to need four to five months of recovery time to heal from the surgery.
Mariota sustained the injury when Jacksonville’s Sheldon Day rolled up on his leg at the end of a sack in Saturday’s 38-17 loss to the Jaguars.
“They’ll place a plate on the place where the fracture is on the fibula,” Titans coach Mike Mularkey said Monday. “Other than that, I don’t know all the ins and outs of the surgery. I do know this: It’s about a four- to five-month recovery period.”
Mularkey is hopeful that Mariota can return for OTAs, which will begin in May.
“Four to five months would put us to where he would still be OK for OTAs,” Mularkey said. “They start in the middle of May and go through June, so at least he would go through part of the OTAs, I would think. Everybody is different in players’ recovery and pain tolerance. I can’t speak for Marcus, but we’ll see how it goes with him.”
With Mariota being a mobile-style quarterback, there is a concern that injury could cost him some of his speed and elusiveness. But Mularkey is optimistic that won’t be the case.
“From what I’m told, he shouldn’t, provided the surgery goes well,” Mularkey said. “I know Bob Anderson very well. I’ve had my feet operated on by him, and I trust him. I think he’s one of the best in the world. We feel very good about where he is going to have the surgery.”
Defensive end Karl Klug will also have surgery on Wednesday by Dr. Anderson’s staff to repair the torn left Achilles tendon he suffered against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Klug had strained his Achilles a week earlier against the Denver Broncos and sat out practices in the week leading up to the Kansas City game. However, he reinjured the Achilles and tore it, which will require surgery. He was placed on injured reserve last week.
