By Nick Shook
NFL.com
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Two Buffalo Bills underwent surgeries in the weeks following the conclusion of the regular season.

Defensive end Shaq Lawson underwent arthroscopic knee surgery after the season, and wide receiver Sammy Watkins had a second surgery on his injured foot late last week, the team announced Friday.

Lawson, who sat out during the first six weeks of the season with a shoulder injury, is projected to be cleared to participate in all offseason activities, meaning his operation likely was minor. Watkins, meanwhile, could be a different story.

Watkins’ struggle with foot problems has been a recurring theme in his young career, keeping him off the field for multiple games and frustrating those who have seen glimpses — a 60-catch, 1,047-yard, nine-touchdown 2015 campaign, for example — of how good he can be when healthy. He was limited to eight games this season with a foot problem, which was initially described as nothing more than soreness that couldn’t be solved surgically. Eventually, Buffalo placed him on injured reserve. After his stint on IR and reassurances that Watkins’ foot was structurally sound, eventual interim head coach Anthony Lynn told reporters Watkins had a broken bone in his foot, but cited the “pain tolerance deal” as the biggest hurdle.

Whatever the issue was has been fixed, according to Dr. Robert Anderson, who informed the team the procedure went well. It’s anticipated Watkins will be ready to participate in training camp. It’s also easy to look at the glass half full with a new head coach in Sean McDermott and months to heal and prepare.

Bills fans will hope this is the last of the foot problems, but if history serves as an indicator of the days, months and years ahead, this will be one to monitor as the summer moves toward training camp commencement.