Bengals star linebacker Vontaze Burfict will spend his offseason recovering from one of the NFL’s most dreaded procedures: Microfracture surgery.

But according to the surgeon who performed the operation to correct cartilage damage on the side of his knee, it’s very much in the realm of possibility for Burfict to be full-strength for training camp.

“I don’t see any reason, if this thing heals like we want and we think it will, why he won’t be back like he was,” said Dr. Neal ElAttrache, a member of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic Board of Directors, over the phone. “Microfracture has a bad connotation, but there are plenty of guys who have come back and been able to play like before. But it’s not really news when it works out.”

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis acknowledged that Burfict had surgery while talking to reporters in Mobile, Ala., but the seriousness of the procedure was not known until sources told NFL Media that it was, in fact, microfracture surgery. ElAttrache then received clearance to discuss the specifics of the surgery that involves drilling tiny fractures in bone to develop new cartilage.

via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com