Arizona State WR Brandon Aiyuk, a possible first-round pick, underwent a core-muscle surgery today performed by noted surgeon William Meyers, sources say. Aiyuk has been dealing with the issue the last few months. Ran 4.50 at the Combine. Decided to fix now with no OTAs in sight.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) April 7, 2020
One prospect the New Orleans Saints may be eyeing in the 2020 NFL Draft just went under the knife. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that Arizona State wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk went through a core-muscle procedure on Tuesday. The injury this surgery repaired has dogged Aiyuk throughout the pre-draft process, but he gutted it out to finish athletic testing at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine.
While he described as a minor issue, Aiyuk did sit out Senior Bowl practices and the all-star game itself out of an abundance of caution. “If the Senior Bowl was next week, I would have been fine,” he told The Denver Post’s Ryan O’Halloran back in January.
Garafolo’s report added that the surgery was performed by Dr. William Meyers, a Philadelphia-based specialist who is well-regarded in NFL circles for his work on groin muscle issues and sports hernia injuries. Given Meyers’ track record and Aiyuk’s own admissions, this shouldn’t be expected to develop into a long-lasting problem.
Now, will it impact his draft stock? Last-minute surgeries can cause a highly-rated prospect to fall down the draft board as teams look for rookies who can play right away, rather than sit out part of their offseason program. That’s what happened with Ryan Ramczyk, who the Saints drafted at No. 31 a few years ago despite the top-15 grade they’d awarded him. Ramczyk underwent hip surgery after Wisconsin’s 2016 bowl game, and ended up in a great spot with New Orleans.
However, we aren’t in a typical draft cycle. The NFL has already canceled lengthy stretches of its offseason calendar in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, including team workouts and organized activities, so Aiyuk won’t be missing more than other rookies around the league while recovering from surgery. In fact, Garafolo reported that the NFL’s adjustment played a direct part in Aiyuk’s decision to have surgery now.
So, it feels like this shouldn’t impact Aiyuk’s draft odds much at all. He could still slip a bit further than expected given the wealth of receiving talent in this year’s draft class, but we shouldn’t anticipate as big a drop for Aiyuk as might be expected in another year. He should very much be in play for the Saints at the end of the first round, as we projected in our latest 2020 mock draft:
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