Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks won’t need surgery on his injured left elbow, and that bodes well for a possible late-season return.
The team put Hicks on Injured Reserve this week, but could bring him back as early as Week 15 against the Packers if he is healthy and if the games matter for the Bears. Each team can bring two players back from IR after they sit eight games, and it doesn’t have to designate that in advance.
“There is a chance, but there’s a chance he doesn’t,” coach Matt Nagy said of Hicks playing again this season. “We’ve just got to figure out here as we go throughout the weeks exactly how things fit.”
Once the Bears play their eighth game Nov. 3, anyone they put on IR won’t be eligible to return. Hicks is the only player currently on IR who seems to have any chance of coming back.
He can begin practicing without being added to the active roster two weeks before he’s eligible to play.
Hicks, who turns 30 next month, sustained the injury early in the Raiders game when teammate Khalil Mack hit him in the left elbow.
He has been one of the Bears’ top defensive players and made the Pro Bowl last season, when he had 55 tackles, 16 quarterback hits and three forced fumbles. He has two seasons left on his four-year, $48 million contract.
