The original plan this offseason was for Kyle Long to undergo two different surgeries to repair his ankle and shoulder injuries that ultimately landed him on injured reserve.

He went through the ankle surgery in January as planned, but the shoulder surgery he had scheduled for early February never happened, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Long decided against the procedure, opting instead to focus 100-percent on recovering the ankle injury that was severely damaged when he was rolled up on against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Week 10.

The Pro Bowl guard had some issues initially following his ankle surgery, reportedly losing 40 pounds as he dealt with sickness in the days following the procedure, so that could have had some influence on him choosing to avoid going under the knife a second time.

Long played through his torn labrum in his shoulder from the preseason on and still contributed at a high level, so it’s not as though the procedure was an absolute necessity, and certainly, he knows his body and what it is capable of better than anyone else.

Surgery in the distance future could still be an option for him, but the plan for 2017 is to play through the shoulder injury once again, and that starts with getting his ankle back to full-strength first.