When the Chargers first announced that Joey Bosa would have to sit out the first game of the season due to a foot injury, the team described him as "week-to-week."
As it turns out though, Bosa is actually month-to-month, and by the time he returns this year, there's a chance he'll have missed the first two months of the season. The Chargers pass rusher revealed on Wednesday that he doesn't think he'll be back on the field until after the team's bye in Week 8.
"It's going to be a few more weeks, and then when that time comes it's really one day at a time," Bosa said, via ESPN.com. "Right now we're really trying to prevent surgery, which is looking good as long as I take my time and do everything right. When I'm ready to go, I'm ready to go, and that will be around bye week or after the bye week."
Under that timeline, the Chargers won't have Bosa back on the field until Nov. 4 at the earliest, when they travel to Seattle for a Week 9 game against the Seahawks. It seems the Chargers likely weren't aware about the severity of the injury, otherwise the could have placed him on injured reserve. If he had been placed on IR before Week 1, it would have opened a roster spot and allowed him to play in Week 9. If Bosa were put on IR now, he wouldn't be allowed to play until Week 12 at the earliest.
Bosa suffered the foot injury on September 5, just four days before the Chargers opener. Although Los Angeles expected to have him in the lineup for their Week 1 game against the Chiefs, Bosa realized at practice that week that there was no way he was going to be able to play.
"I knew out there I wasn't ready to go," Bosa said. "I thought maybe if I could get through that week without pain I maybe could be ready, but I think it's honestly a blessing that I hurt myself like that, because if I would have went out on game day I would have destroyed my foot, and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."
After the Chargers 38-28 loss to the Chiefs, Bosa decided to visit renowned foot specialist Robert Anderson in Wisconsin to get a second opinion on his foot and Anderson determined that Bosa was dealing with a bone bruise.
According to Bosa, the tendon on his bruised foot still isn't stable, which is why he can't get back on the field yet. Bosa, who hasn't played in a regular season game this year, also missed every Chargers preseason game due to a separate foot injury that he suffered on Aug. 7.
With Bosa likely sidelined until at least Week 9, that means the Chargers won't have him on the field for their upcoming games against the 49ers, Raiders, Browns and Titans. Bosa racked up 23 sacks total over the past two seasons, which means he's averaged .82 sacks per game during his career. To put that in perspective, only three other players since 2000 has averaged a number that high through their first two seasons (via NFL.com): Aldon Smith (1.05), Shawne Merriman (1.00), and Von Miller (0.97).
