Jarvis Landry says Kobe Bryant’s death inspired him to have hip surgery that will sideline him until August

INDIANAPOLIS — Browns receiver Jarvis Landry revealed in an interview that aired on his YouTube channel that it was Kobe Bryant’s death which inspired him to undergo the hip surgery that will sideline him until August.

Landry, who had the surgery Feb. 4 to remove two pieces of bone from the labrum in his left hip, initially opted not to have the procedure, even though the hip bothered him throughout his 1,174-yard Pro Bowl campaign.

But while playing in the Pro Bowl on Jan. 26, the pain flared up, and Landry realized what he had to do.

“The dodgeball event was the highlight of that weekend,’’ he said in a lengthy interview on his channel iamlandry.com about his decision to have the surgery. “I get to the game and [stuff] just don’t feel right. It’s hurting, it’s tight, I can’t really run like I wanted to. It seemed like I was having fun but every time I went to the sideline, it was like, ‘Oh man.’ ’’

What really clinched the decision was Bryant’s death in a helicopter crash the day of the Pro Bowl. Bryant had made a huge impression on Landry when he made a surprise visit to a Browns team meeting in Denver on Dec. 14 before the Broncos game there to talk about his book “The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.”

“Kobe Bryant dies the same day and I stayed up that night until about 3, 4 o’clock in the morning and I’m watching his story, watching his legacy, watching all of his documentaries and it just hit me," Landry said. “I had this talk with myself like ‘Jarvis you’re hurt. You can’t fake this. You can’t keep trying to be tough for everybody else. You’re hurt.’

“And from that point, I started thinking about, ‘All right, do I play another season hurt and my production goes down? Do I play another season and I’m not the same person? Do I play another season and I hurt something else?’

“All these thoughts kind of came just from watching how short life is and how a legend was taken from us in a time when it was unexpected for everybody. I guess it’s kind of crazy to say that that’s what made me get the surgery, but it’s something that triggered something inside of me to have that self-reflection and be like, ‘Man, you need the surgery.’ ”

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Landry woke up the next morning and called his agent and then Dr. Chris Larson, his Minnesota surgeon.

“[I said] ‘Hey Doc, when are you free? When can I get up to Minnesota do this surgery?" he said.

Landry knew once he made up his mind he had to act fast.

“I knew that prior to Pro Bowl that the recovery time was 6 to 8 months,” he said. “I knew I had to make a decision right then and there. If I waited another month, now that pushed me another couple weeks back for the start of the season. Now I’m looking at an August return, maybe even before that, while if I’d had waited another couple weeks, I’m looking at a September return.

“I haven’t missed a game my entire career and that’s something that’s near and dear to my heart … the Joe Thomas thing. It’s something I wanted to accomplish. It’s important. It’s part of the legacy. You can talk about the numbers and all of that, but to be available all the time, not a lot of guys can say that in their career.’’

Landry, who showed up for OTAs with a fractured sacrum that ultimately contributed to his hip injury, noted that "I didn’t want to go through the headaches of a surgery, the headaches of a rehab.’’

In the end, The Mamba Mentality drove him to not waste another moment.

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