Former Pittsburgh Steelers guard David DeCastro said he dealt with bone spurs in his ankle all last season that will need surgery to correct.
Via Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, DeCastro said Thursday that the ankle issues were an ongoing problem for him all of last season.
“I have to get surgery on my ankle a third time,” DeCastro said in a text Thursday. “I tried to fix it last year but the bone spurs kept coming back. It nagged me pretty bad all last year.”
The Steelers released DeCastro on Thursday with a non-football injury designation. He was in attendance at Steelers offseason workouts but did not participate because of the issue. His most recent surgery on the ankle came prior to last season.
DeCastro also confirmed that he’s uncertain whether his career will ultimately end up continuing after nine years in Pittsburgh. It will depend of how his surgery goes.
“Gotta see how the surgery goes,” he said. “But I’d have no problem calling it a day and moving on with my life.”
As noted by Mark Kaboly, DeCastro never appeared on the injury report because of an ankle injury last season. Knee, hand and abdominal injuries led to appearances on the list as well as days off for non-injury related reasons. But if an ailment is significant enough to require surgery, it’s safe to wonder whether he should have had that issue notated at times last year.