Do you know something they are not telling us? Why do you think he will not be back this year? A Fracture of the fibula is not that a serious of an injury. I saw several of them, that same injury, during my career and mostly they were back by 8 -10 weeks. The main purpose of the fibula bone is to provide stability to the ankle joint. There seems to me there is no reason he should not be back in the 6 - 8 or 10 week range.