Dallas Cowboys punter Mat McBriar said he should make a full recovery and be ready to play again in the fall after having surgery this week to remove a cyst in his left knee, found two weeks ago, which apparently led to the "drop foot" that caused him to end the season on injured reserve.
McBriar underwent the surgery on Tuesday at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Dr. Robert Spinner, who performed the surgery, said it was a rare condition.
"He's lucky, and I'm lucky because this is what I've been interested in," Spinner said. "There are lots of reasons why people have drop foot. Most are not related to tumors or this type of cyst."
McBriar, who is a free agent, said in a radio interview Thursday that he'll need to rest about a month but could be working out in two months. Free agency in the NFL begins March 13.
"I know it'll be a full recovery," McBriar said on ESPN/103.3 FM. Asked about his chances to return to Dallas after one of his worst statistical seasons, McBriar said his preference is to remain with the Cowboys.
"I don't know how it's going to end up," he said. "I really do hope that I stay in Dallas, but I guess for the time being, just getting healthy is my main focus. I've been given no reason not to believe that it would come back to where it was."
McBriar finished his eighth season, all with the Cowboys. He averaged 43.8 yards on 58 punts, his lowest average since his first two years in the league, when he averaged 42.4 and 42.5 yards. From 2006 to 2010, he averaged 47.5 yards. He made the Pro Bowl in 2006 when he led the NFL with a 48.2 average, tying for the fifth highest average in league history.
McBriar was put on injured reserve for the final game of the season. He also missed a game against Seattle.
McBriar said the cyst was discovered two weeks ago. Before that, neither he nor the Cowboys had much of an idea of what was causing the "drop foot."
"The cyst itself had been growing," McBriar said. "Maybe if we had found it earlier, that would have been a benefit. There's not extra damage that I did playing with it. It just got larger and larger, and so it was undetected at first."
Spinner said another cyst of that type -- an intraneural ganglion, which means it is in a nerve -- could form, but he does not anticipate it in McBriar. Also, cysts of that type are not common in athletes.
"It usually affects people who are older, and occasionally, people with some injuries," Spinner said. "But it's so rare, this isn't something that has been known in athletes."
