Bone fractures in the foot are often troublesome especially for professional athletes. There is not a lot of blood circulation at the extremities of the body and so they can take a long time to heal, or often not heal at all. Since it takes a long time to "naturally" heal, it's a tough call as to when you give up and progress to bone graft surgery, which generally involves taking some bone from the hip area. With 2 sites to heal, post surgery recovery is also not a short time frame in regards to ultimate success and return to playing. I don't think we can pick on the rehab process, reaching for the knife straight away is not really recommended. Maybe they could have chosen the surgery route a few weeks earlier, but he still wouldn't have played again this year anyway.
Always a Bulldog