Broken right foot sidelines Hakeem Nicks.
The Super Bowl champions New York Giants were dealt a blow to their repeat ambitions long before the start of the upcoming regular season. Top receiver Hakeem Nicks will miss up to three months — and maybe longer — with a broken right foot suffered at a team organized activity on Thursday.
Nicks fractured the fifth metatarsal of his right foot as he was running a route during individual drills in the Timex Performance Center field house, the team said in a release.
Nicks is scheduled to have surgery Friday to have a screw inserted into the broken bone. The procedure will be performed by foot and ankle specialist Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, N.C. The expected recovery time for Nicks is approximately 12 weeks.
Receiver Mario Manningham was lost to free agency, leaving NY with depth concerns at receiver. Victor Cruz returns as well as Domenik Hixon, who missed most of last season with a knee injury. Untested and Ramses Barden and rookie second-round draft pick Rueben Randle apparently will get a shot at playing time.
The fifth metatarsal generally takes a long time to heal because there isn’t a lot of blood flow to the area.
Nets center Brook Lopez was limited to five games this past NBA season after breaking his fifth metatarsal in training camp. He returned after missing 33 games of the league’s shortened season, and then sprained an ankle on the same foot and never came back.
Cornerback Prince Amukamara, the Giants’ first-round draft pick in 2011, broke his fifth metatarsal in training camp on Aug. 6. He did not play in a game until Nov. 20 and he never looked 100 percent in his rookie season as the Giants won a Super Bowl.Hughes has played for Indianapolis and San Diego, seeing time in 53 regular-season games with two starts. He also played in one postseason game for the 2008 Colts against the Chargers. He has 81 tackles (61 solo), one interception and five passes defensed.
Witherspoon was signed by the Giants on Dec. 30, 2010, after stints with Jacksonville, Detroit and Carolina. He played 10 snaps on special teams in the regular-season finale at Washington on Jan. 2, 2011. Witherspoon first tore his ACL in a preseason game vs. Chicago last Aug. 22 and spent the season on injured reserve.
