The only problem I have with Andrews, for the most part, was that at the time he was redoing Jerry Rice and John Kasay, among others, both of which were rush-cases of ACLs (Kasay being end of season, giving 8 weeks of rest and heal and then just five months of rehab before his kneecap broke; Rice tore his first of the season, and returned after four months to see the same happen to him), was that he uses part of the patella tendon to replace the ACL rather than using a cadaver ACL. It diminishes the strength in the patella as well because it was cut and re-attached surgically, and caused two knee injuries to prominent players.
He may not now but it just seemed suspect at the time. As an orthopedist, he does seem to be the leading guy, and it's possible that in that case he'd be less likely to use some new things - though he never hesitated to go microfracture on our guys. Smith's surgery was against better wishes of the team, Jeffers' was against pat's own better wishes.
The major problem with microfracture is the same as if using stimulation therapy on a bald head - you're looking to regenerate a little growth over nothing. Eric Swann had no knee cartilage left. Jeffers? Same. Kevin Hardy was younger and had microfracture and it, for the most part, worked. He's got knee cartilage now because they're filling in the cracks (mtaphorically) rather than trying to make an entirely new base.
So I do have some faith in relacement surgery or microfracture for DeShaun. The faith I lack is whether he'll be healthy consistently ever again. At his best, he could be Fred Taylor, and he certainly has Taylor's negative attributes as well.
