Unfortunately, I have first-hand (I mean, "first-knee) experience with this subject.
None of us can really assess Dwight’s recovery time or whether or not he will ever fully recover to get back his previous athletic capabilities.
There are several possible “fixes” for an ACL tear, and the path taken depends on many factors including the severity of the injury as well as the potential to make a come back and play again and also the skill set of the surgeon. Surgeons in the sports area obviously tend to be more gifted at repair procedures giving the athlete the best change of a full recovery with ability to play competitively again. My ACL tear was only part of my injury as a I also suffered a complete patellar tendon tear.
Because of my age (being in my mid-30s) and the fact that I wasn’t making a fat pro salary (or ever would) and because of the severity of the injury my playing days were over. I had a top-notch sports surgeon who wasted zero time telling me that I would need play again.
Many ACL injuries require a tendon graft, and those grafts can be taken from various places. Here is a pretty good read on that, where the graft is taken from the patellar tendon.
http://www.houstonmethodist.org/orthopedics/where-does-it-hurt/knee/patellar-reconstruction-acl/
And then there is the psychological side of it all. My injury happened over 20 years ago and I still do not have the same trust with that knee, and I battle pains, stiffness and permanent muscular atrophy in my quad, even after extensive rehab that took 2 solid years of suffering to accomplish. I had to learn how to walk again and then there was back issues that followed. Since I don’t play or even run at full speed, the trust issue became known the first time I climbed a ladder. Luckily, Dwight’s injury wasn’t as extensive as mine, but the point is that every ACL tear tends to be slightly different and has many factors involved so we can’t just lump prognosis into one common statement.
I liked Bill’s explanation… that Dwight was cleared to play but just hasn’t received his “snap” back.
My guess… either it is psychological (trust issue), it is a physical issue (most likely related to strengthen all the tendons/muscles in that area), or most-likely a combination of both. The “snap” issue is quite complex to fix when athletes don’t get it back quickly. Many then never get it back, regardless how hard the athlete works to rehab. Genetics also plays a key in this.
