Shaq Lawson Injury: Updates on Bills Star's Recovery from Shoulder Surgery

The Buffalo Bills announced on May 16 that their 2016 first-round draft pick, defensive end Shaq Lawson, would undergo surgery to repair his right shoulder on May 17. Shawn Stepner of WKBW reported the surgery was successful. 

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Lawson "was making [a] swim move on [a] tackling dummy in [a] non-contact drill when he aggravated [the] shoulder injury." 

Lawson reportedly won't be forced to miss the entire 2016-17 season.

Continue for updates.

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Whaley Comments on Lawson's Surgery

Tuesday, May 24

"It’s too early in the process, but with everything that we thought going into the surgery it’s safe to say he’s going to miss some of the early part of the season," Bills general manager Doug Whaley said, per Chris Brown of the team's official website. He continued:

"

Let’s clear the air because I know there’s a narrative out there. We were aware of the shoulder, but we wanted to take measures to prevent another flare up during the season.

From ownership on down, and this is where you really have to commend Shaq and his representatives to say let’s take this pre-emptive measure and not have another flare up during the season -- and to sidestep his personal goals and look out for the team and the longevity of his career, we’re excited about the person we got in Shaq and everybody was on board from ownership on down.

[...]

The more and more we thought about it in talking about it with ownership, the head coach, the medical staff and myself and Shaq and his representatives, we said, ‘Let’s be proactive with this thing. Let’s not have an incident which may come up five months from now or five days. So the unpredictability of when it could happen again we decided to remove all doubt.' We said, ‘Let’s get the shoulder surgery done now and that’s pre-emptive and then we remove all doubt as to when this could flare up again either during the season or two years from now.'

"

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Lawson's Timeline for Return Revealed

Tuesday, May 17

Schefter reported on Monday that Lawson will be on the shelf for five to six months, while NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported on Tuesday that Lawson is expected to be on the PUP list to start preseason and miss four or five regular-season games.

Rapoport also noted on Monday that the procedure should correct the problem "long-term" moving forward.

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Lawson Comments on Surgery

Monday, May 16

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Bills Comment on Nature of Lawson's Surgery

Monday, May 16

The team described the procedure as a preventative measure and the "best course of action for the overall health of his shoulder moving forward."

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Lawson's Surgery Will Correct Nagging Injury

Lawson originally suffered the injury at Clemson in 2013, but he still managed to play in 40 games over his three years at the school, where he recorded 45.5 tackles for loss and 20 sacks.

At the NFL Scouting Combine in February, though, that shoulder was flagged, and he had to return to Indianapolis in April to get it rechecked by the league, via NFL.com's Albert Breer.

Sources told Schefter on the opening night of the draft, via ESPN.com's Mike Rodak, that Lawson would need surgery and could be sidelined for four to six months.

Lawson denied those reports, per Rodak: "If I didn't have surgery my freshman year, why would I need surgery now? I can still play ball."

Rapoport added that it was believed in the predraft process that Lawson could hold off on the surgery until the 2017 offseason, which is why the Bills went ahead and took him at No. 19 overall.

"Our medical staff cleared him, said he could play," Bills general manager Doug Whaley told reporters on draft night. "If something happens it's going to happen, but it's nothing that we're really worried about or we wouldn't have taken him. We've got complete faith in our medical staff, so we're excited to have him."

That something has happened, and Lawson faces a significant amount of time on the recovery trail in lieu of preparation for his first NFL season. This could delay his development and acclimation to the speed of the NFL, which will put him at an early disadvantage upon his return.

Buffalo fans will hope Lawson immerses himself in the nuances of the Bills defensive playbook while recovering from surgery so he can hit the ground running when he's cleared to play.

Stats courtesy of Sports-Reference.com.