P.J. Locke’s Offseason Spinal Fusion Surgery: A Game-Changing Comeback in the Making?

Locke was named the team’s Ed Block Courage Award winner in January. No one outside the locker room realized exactly what he was going through to get on the field for 15 games last season.

Locke shared a meeting with his surgeon, Dr. Chad Prusmack, on Feb. 10 after surgery. The degenerated discs in Locke’s L4 and L5 vertebrae led to bone-on-bone, and Prusmack fused the spine with a “cage” and screws.Locke did not participate in the team’s offseason program as he continued his rehab. He is expected to compete for safety snaps after the Broncos signed Talanoa Hufanga in free agency.When the Broncos took their postseason bow against the Bills, few outside their locker room knew the true battle P.J. Locke was engaged in — a grueling war with his own back. Not long after that defeat, Locke went under the knife for a rare spinal fusion surgery, a procedure that cast serious doubt on whether he’d ever lace up his cleats again. In his candid YouTube documentary series “My Breakthrough,” Locke peels back the curtain on his journey from the shadow of uncertainty to the first flickers of hope — detailing how degenerated discs in his lower spine forced a radical fix with metal cages and screws. The road was anything but easy; Locke describes those early days post-op as a haze of fear and pain, wondering if healing was even possible. Yet here we are, five months on, and he’s virtually pain-free, calling his recovery nothing short of miraculous. And get this — despite the raw raw reality behind his scenes, Locke was a rock on defense last season, logging over 1,000 snaps and scoring the Broncos’ Ed Block Courage Award for his tenacity and heart. Now, as he races through rehab and eyes a competitive safety spot — with fresh faces like Talanoa Hufanga joining the fold — the story of P.J. Locke is one of resilience, grit, and an unexpected blessing unfolding. LEARN MOREThe first episode of the personal documentary series, “My Breakthrough,” lays out that there were “no guarantees that P.J. would return to play football ever again” as one of the first NFL players to undergo spinal fusion surgery.Broncos safety P.J. Locke underwent back surgery shortly after the team’s playoff loss to the Bills, he announced in a 14-minute YouTube video.

“How I felt the first week after surgery. It’s like: ‘Oh, my God. I don’t know how I’m going to get better after this,’” Locke said in the video, via Kyle Frederickson of the Denver Gazette.Five months later, though, Locke said he’s “got no pain levels.”“Even the little bit of pain I do have from certain movements, it’s nothing compared to what I was dealing with during the season,” Locke said. “I feel like it’s been a miracle. I feel like it’s a breakthrough I’ve been praying for. It came out of a blessing that I wasn’t expecting.”He played 1,000 defensive snaps in the regular season and all 76 snaps in the postseason loss.