Alabama team doctor E. Lyle Cain Jr., who performed top NFL draft prospect Dee Milliner's shoulder surgery, said it was a "relatively small labral tear" and the Alabama cornerback should be ready for training camp.
"I saw him last week (April 20) at the Alabama spring game," Cain said. "He was doing well in his rehab, all of his motion was back, his strength has come back, he looks ... if any doctor examined him right now, they'll think he has a normal shoulder."
Milliner currently is the top-ranked cornerback on the NFL.com's draft tracker. Milliner suffered the labrum injury during his final season at Alabama and played through it during the Crimson Tide's title run. He held off surgery until after the NFL Scouting Combine, where he performed every drill except for the bench press.
"We talked about (getting surgery) before the combine and I gave him the timetable," Cain said. "He wanted to show people he could run and to him, running the time that he ran, it was a huge factor for him. Teams talking to him, examined him, they know the shoulder is not going to be a problem."
Milliner impressed scouts at the combine with his speed, running the second-fastest 40-yard dash time among cornerbacks and sixth-fastest overall at 4.37 seconds. Milliner was also a top-performer in the vertical jump for the cornerbacks group. But Milliner's shoulder is not the only medical red flag. He's undergone five surgeries in all on both shoulders, knee scope, sports hernia and tibia stress fracture.
"I think just about all the guys in the first round have had something in the training room that had to be seen or treated and had surgery," Cain said. "Dee's one of those guys who never missed a game or practice. Everything he's had, whether tibital stress fracture or shoulder, has been something he's either played the whole season with and not complaining or missing a beat. Or he's had it fixed and come back and played. He's unusual in that he is a very resilient guy who doesn't let any injuries get to him."
Four of NFL.com's draft experts have Milliner going to the Cleveland Browns with the sixth overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. While visiting the Browns last week, Milliner stumped for a chance to join Joe Haden as one of the NFL's premier cornerback tandems.
Cain, for one, thinks Milliner's shoulder will be the same as it was before being injured. He also said the type of injury Milliner suffered isn't as much of a concern for his position. Cain added that with the post-surgery timeline he didn't "expect him to have any problems going into camp in August."
"It'd be more of a concern if he was an offensive lineman," Cain said. "But at his position, a posterior labrum tear, it'll heal just fine. I don't think there's any long-term concerns about his shoulder."
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