According to a Plain Dealer report published last night, Cleveland Browns left guard Eric Steinbach, who was placed on the injured reserve on Tuesday, is expected to make a full recovery after having surgery.
"The operation went really well,'' said Jack Bechta, Steinbach's agent, in an email to the Plain Dealer. "There was a loose, unattached bone fragment wedge on the spinal cord nerves. It was removed and the nerves laid back down in their track and Eric is 100 percent pain-free. There was no other structural damage to the nerves nor did they have to touch any of the disk.''
It is already confirmed that rookie Jason Pinkston will start at left guard in place of Steinbach. With this being the fourth preseason game, it'll be interesting to see who sees action behind him at the position. That could be an indicator of which of the backups will make the final roster.
One question I have: is this the type of surgery that would require an entire season of rest for safety reasons? Without having knowledge of the type of injury Steinbach had, it almost sounds as if the guy is...back to normal? Either way, Steinbach is already on the injured reserve, so he is done for the season.