Giants' Hakeem Nicks breaks right foot
Hakeem Nicks reacts to a dropped pass in the first quarter as DeJon Gomesof the Washington Redskins looks on at MetLife Stadium. (Dec. 18, 2011) Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Giants' top wide receiver won't be back on the field until at least mid-August.
Hakeem Nicks fractured the fifth metatarsal of his right foot while running a route in Thursday's OTA, the team announced. He will undergo surgery Friday morning to have a screw inserted into the broken bone. The expected recovery time for the injury is 12 weeks.
That means Nicks is finished for the rest of the offseason and for the beginning of training camp, which players will report to on July 26. If he sticks to the timeline, he should be available for the regular-season opener on Sept. 5 against the Cowboys.
"It's probably going to be close," Tom Coughlin told the NFL Network. "He feels very confident about it . . . The doctors have expressed it as being something that they think will heal very well."
Nicks is the third Giant in the last two years to suffer the same injury, and their recovery times have varied. Will Beatty broke the bone early in the 2010 season and missed seven weeks. Prince Amukamara broke it in his second training camp practice last year as a rookie and it took him about 15 weeks to get back to full speed.
The Giants already were looking for someone to fill the No. 3 receiver job vacated by free agent Mario Manningham. They have options that include veterans Domenik Hixon and Ramses Barden, second-year player Jerrel Jernigan and this year's second-round draft pick, Rueben Randle, whom the Giants have called "NFL-ready."
Victor Cruz returns as the presumed No. 2 receiver.
Nicks has not played a 16-game regular season in his three years in the NFL. He played in 15 games last season, catching 76 passes for 1,192 yards and seven touchdowns. He added another 28 receptions for 444 yards and four touchdowns in the postseason, including a Hail Mary catch against the Packers and a 72-yarder against the Falcons.
Coughlin told NFL Network that Nicks suffered the injury while running a route and "all of a sudden, he started limping. I thought he rolled his ankle over. Well, it wasn't his ankle."
Nicks' surgery will be performed by noted foot and ankle specialist Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, N.C.
Witherspoon waived
CB Brian Witherspoon, who returned from a torn ACL suffered in August, tore it again on Wednesday and was waived/injured. He was replaced on the roster by veteran CB Dante Hughes, who has played six NFL seasons and was a tryout at the rookie minicamp earlier this month.
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