AP

Whenever a question arises regarding a player injury, the first guy PFT turns to is former NFL athletic trainer and current NBC Sports Medicine Analyst Mike Ryan.

So I texted him immediately after the report emerged from NFL Media that Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant will miss 10-12 weeks because the surgery to repair the broken bone in his foot included a bone graft.

And then I realized Ryan is in Green Bay for the Sunday night game between the Seahawks and Packers and that I was texting him at like 6:00 a.m. Oops.

Ryan nevertheless responded, without profanity or other frustration. And he explained that a bone graft is “fairly common for elite athletes with this surgery.” Ryan added that most doctors believe a bone graft “enhances blood flow at the fracture site.”

As Ryan previously explained on PFT Live, it’s possible that Bryant has had the condition for a while, with nagging pain and tenderness on the outside of his foot that finally became a problem when the bone broke. A bone graft becomes more necessary where the injury was chronic.

The biggest question remains whether the bone graft extends the recovery time.

“Not necessarily,” Ryan said. “His return will be based on two factors: How quickly he heals and the comfort level with the risk of re-injury.”

That risk of re-injury looms large, especially with the Cowboys already setting the stage for an eventual nudging of Bryant back to the field — which becomes more likely if the Cowboys are in danger of slipping out of playoff contention in November.