Derrius Guice could be out for the year

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Washington running back Derrius Guice will be out at least for a while, after surgery to address a torn meniscus. There’s a chance he’ll be out for the rest of the year.

The question is whether Dr. James Andrews trimmed the meniscus or repaired it. A full-blown repair requires much more recovery time, but it becomes better for the player’s long-term health and performance. Repairing the meniscus keeps it in place; trimming it removes some of the natural cushioning in the knee, moving the player toward an eventual bone-on-bone situation.

In 2015, the man who will replace Guice as the starting tailback — Adrian Peterson — suffered a torn meniscus in Week Two against the Packers. Peterson had it repaired, not trimmed, and he missed 13 weeks before a lackluster return late in the season, his last as a Viking.

The distinction between partial removal and repair becomes critical for Guice, both as to when he’ll play again in 2019, and whether he’ll play the game for an extended period of time. Through two seasons, he has played only sparingly thanks to a knee injury that was season-ending in 2018, and that may be again in 2019.