Stress fracture 2nd metatarsal

I have a stress fracture in my second metatarsal. What is the shortest posible amount of time I could come back in. I play football.

The usual time period of recovery is 4-6 weeks of nonweightbearing (which is usually the time when bony consolidation is seen on x-ray). For athletes, I usually am comfortable with 4 weeks of nonweightbearing and then 2 weeks of partial weightbearing (depending on the appearance of the x-ray!). Most people I find don’t get back up to speed until about 8 weeks.