Ty Warren, the Patriots' star defensive lineman, is battling a hip injury so severe that it could threaten his entire 2010 season, according to Mike Reiss.
Reiss, who cites a source close to Warren, says that the lineman is suffering from an injury similar to a labral tear (which is what Alex Rodriguez had). It's not career threatening, but it could require surgery. And surgery would likely mean no action for Warren in the 2010 season.
Losing Warren would be terrible for the Patriots, who rely on him to anchor the defensive line.
"The things that he does for the people around him and us, it goes unspoken," [defensive line coach Pepper] Johnson said. "He is a strong character in the locker room. He is a strong character in our meetings. He's a stand-up guy. He's a guy that if he misses a play, or if he blows a play out there on the field, he stands up and says 'that was me and that's not going to happen again.' You can't have enough of those type of guys out on the field."
On Monday, Bill Belichick said only of Warren that he had "missed a number of practices" and that "We’ll just have to wait and see until we get a little more information."