Jets' Decker, on IR with shoulder injury, has hip surgery

NEW YORK (AP) - Eric Decker will be sidelined a bit longer than initially expected.

The New York Jets wide receiver, already on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, underwent surgery Tuesday on his hip.

The Jets announced on their website that the hip surgery was deemed necessary after Decker had an evaluation when he was placed on IR last week with a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

The team said the anticipated recovery time for Decker's hip surgery is six months. When the wide receiver is able to get off crutches during that period - it's uncertain how long that will take - he will then have the surgery on his shoulder, with recovery time expected to be eight months.

So, if Decker hypothetically needs two months to get off crutches, the shoulder procedure requires about eight additional months of recovery time. He could miss time during the 2017 season, but Decker could also still be ready for Week 1, in a best-case scenario.

"It's probably too early for that," coach Todd Bowles said during a conference call of Decker possibly missing the start of next season. "It'll probably be close, but I've got to see how he heals."

In a post on her Twitter page , Decker's wife Jessie James said he has "quietly battling these injuries for years and fighting through them." She added that her husband is "doin great!! Get ready 2017. He will be ready to rock!!!"

Decker, who had nine catches for 194 yards and two touchdowns, injured his shoulder at Buffalo on Sept. 15 and it worsened the following week at Kansas City in Week 3.

He was inactive for two games while the Jets waited to see if the shoulder would improve through rest and rehab. When it was determined last week that it hadn't, the Jets decided to place Decker on injured reserve so he could have season-ending surgery.

"He wasn't recovering the way we hoped he would," Bowles said last Wednesday. "He wasn't getting any better. It was getting worse. At some point, he had to try to get surgery."

Decker had 80 receptions for 1,027 yards and 12 scores - including a team-record 10 TDs inside the opponents' 20-yard line - last season as he and Brandon Marshall combined for 26 TDs.

He signed as a free agent with the Jets in 2014 after four seasons in Denver and has been one of the NFL's most-productive receivers in that time with 163 receptions for 2,183 yards and 19 touchdowns.

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