Derek Rivers has gone under the knife.
According to Kevin Duffy of MassLive.com, the New England Patriots top pick in the 2017 NFL Draft underwent knee surgery on Tuesday. Rivers initially suffered the injury during joint practices with the Houston Texans back in August while going through kickoff drills.
Why wait nearly a month to have surgery?
Duffy notes that this is somewhat of a common practice as folks who suffer this type of injury go through a sort of "prehab" to build strength and range of motion before surgery.
Rivers was taken in the third round (No. 83 overall) by the Patriots this past spring and was their first pick of the draft after trading their first rounder for Brandin Cooks and their second in a deal that saw another third rounder and Kony Ealy come back to Foxboro.
At Youngstown State, the defensive end showed real promise totaling 173 tackles, 56.5 tackles for a loss, 37.5 sacks and three forced fumbles in his collegiate career.
