After surprise surgery, Shane Ray’s season in jeopardy

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Shane Ray was planning on 2017 to be his breakout year.

That was, of course, before the first day of training camp in the end of July when he tore ligaments in his left wrist, causing him to have surgery, go on the injured reserve and miss the first seven weeks of the season.

Now that same injury is on the cusp of ending the same season two weeks early after he had impromptu surgery on Friday, just hours after the Denver Broncos 25-13 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

The surgery was Ray’s third time going under the knife to help repair his wrist since training camp. The first was to fix the wrist, the second was to remove the pins and Friday’s surgery was to remove the screws from his bone.

“Originally the plan was [to have the surgery] after the season,” a devastated Ray explained on Monday. “But my screws—the problem is you’re playing in pain with the screws in your wrist and the possibility of the screws breaking. My screws started wearing away a bit at the bone and loosening up, so it was time for them to come out, to take them out.”

The surgery itself isn’t necessarily season ending. Instead of wearing a cast just during football activities—including games—Shane will now be in a permanent cast the next two weeks spanning throughout the end of the season.

“I think every game I’ve come out at least once or twice in a game just because of the pain. Now, it’s still painful but my wrist isn’t strong right now,” Ray elaborated on how he and the team will decide whether he plays another down this season. “It’s a thing where if I can tolerate the pain and play then that’s one thing, but another thing is just getting healthy completely. Sometimes it’s not about tolerating the pain—I’ve done that all season for my team. Now I’ve got to get right.”

With the Broncos sitting at 5-9 and no shot of making the playoffs, there isn’t much incentive, if any, to play Ray the final two weeks of the season, especially since his wrist is weaker and could be more susceptible to further injury.

“I want to be our there. If I can, I’ll be out there to help the team. I got to get healthy, take care of myself and get back to being the Shane that I can be. It’s hard doing that with three wrist surgeries,” the typically cheerful Ray said in utter disappointment. “There’s just a lot of things that I got to weigh at the moment. Just talk to the staff and see what their direction is.”

In his eight games this season, Ray has compiled only one sack, while playing with only one functioning hand. Since the injury has limited what he’s able to do physically, the third-year player admitted he’s been playing at 225 pounds most of the season compared to the 240 pounds he played at last year. To put this in perspective, his counterpart, Von Miller, is listed at 250 pounds.

With this season all but a wash, Ray’s vision is set to the future of getting healthy, something he hasn’t been able to fully do all season.

“With the screws [out] and everything, I can start my recovery process and getting the strength back in my hand,” he said. “Once I get the stitches and all of that stuff out, I can actually start lifting weights. I haven’t lifted weights since the surgery happened. You can imagine how tough it is to play injured, not being able to work out and all of that stuff. It’s been a battle, but I haven’t complained and I haven’t said anything. I just come in and work. It’s tough.”

All signs point that it’s only a matter of time until Ray’s season is officially over.