Chase Young ahead of schedule thanks to aggressive approach in rehab

Chase Young is ahead of schedule thanks to an aggressive approach in rehab from offseason neck surgery. Dennis Allen sees a player who is driven to succeed:

Chase Young is progressing rapidly. The New Orleans Saints bet big on the defensive end as their top acquisition in free agency, and while it’s very early it’s tough to not be encouraged by the growth he’s showing at training camp. Young missed the spring while recovering from neck surgery but he was already on the field for team drills by the fifth day of training camp practices, the first in pads.

He’s ahead of schedule according to Saints head coach Dennis Allen. “Once he met with the doctors when we got here on the 22nd, and he was cleared by the doctor for full participation, so I think at that point we probably accelerated this timeline just a little bit from where we probably initially thought it would be or potentially could be. I like where he’s at right now.”

Young only worked in team drills for three pass-rushing snaps, which Allen said was by design. They want to see Young knock off the rust and get used to hitting other people again before they hand him a heavy workload: “We’re going to continue to be smart with him. Each day you’ll see him ramp up more and more every day.”

Allen said it was a team effort — credit belongs not just to the doctor who performed the surgery and the Saints training staff who helped him recover, but to Young himself for his aggressive, disciplined approach to rehab.

“He did everything that our training staff asked him to do, to a ‘T,'” Allen said. “He worked extremely hard at it. Man, I’m excited about seeing what he can do.”

Motivation was the concern for Young as a free agent. He was criticized for taking plays off after his high-profile trade to the San Francisco 49ers last season and not giving his best effort on every down. But Allen sees a player who is driven to succeed. Young may have not lived up to his draft status as a former second overall pick, but this prove-it deal with the Saints could earn him a life-changing contract in 2025. He’s working hard to earn it, and that’s great news for the black and gold.

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Chiefs DL Charles Omenihu’s ACL rehab is progressing slowly in the latest update

Kansas City #Chiefs DL Charles Omenihu’s ACL rehab is progressing slowly in the latest update | @EdEastonJr

The Kansas City Chiefs won their second consecutive Super Bowl title last season with contributions from many unsung players. Charles Omenihu was a reliable veteran on the defensive line until suffering a postseason-ending injury.

While at a youth football camp in Houston, Texas, Omenihu spoke with Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston, providing an update on his recovery from a torn ACL in the Chiefs’ AFC Championship game victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

“It’s going good,” said Omenihu. “Slow process. Everybody told me it was going to be like that, but it’s been decent.”

The former Texas standout had seven sacks in 2023 after appearing in 11 regular-season games due to an early season suspension. He secured a sack on league MVP Lamar Jackson before leaving the AFC Championship game with the injury.

“Honestly, right now, I’m steady, I’m cool,” said Omenihu. “I got to be like this. I kind of keep myself like that, just stay plain, and we’ll get to the point where I ramp it up like that.”

Once he’s healthy and ready to return to the field, Onenihu will be a welcomed addition to the Chiefs defensive line.

Chase Young on track in surgery rehab, participating at walkthrough practice

Chase Young is on track in his surgery rehab and participating at walkthroughs. The Saints are betting big on him making an impact in 2024:

The New Orleans Saints are betting big on Chase Young. The former Ohio State Buckeye and No. 2 pick in the NFL draft signed a unique one-year deal with the Saints in free agency, and they’re putting a lot of hopes on him livening up their pass rush — once he’s cleared for a full workload after undergoing neck surgery earlier this offseason.

Young’s injury was not news to the Saints, who constructed his deal to where they’ll essentially get a refund on the 2025 salary cap for any games he misses in 2024. Just in case. But they’re hoping he’ll be back in action early this season, and with organized team activities kicking off this week he’s progressing right where they expected him to be. Head coach Dennis Allen shared an update on Young’s health at the Saints Hall of Fame golf tournament on Monday.

“Things are going well right now,” Allen said. “Look, I don’t expect to see him out there on the practice field, working any time soon, he’s been able to participate in some of the walkthrough stuff that we’ve had. I think that’ll be the mode he’ll be in the majority of this time of the year. And then we’ll see where we’re at when training camp rolls around.”

That lines up with the treatment and recovery plan the Saints outlined early on. The expectation is for Young to miss part of training camp while healing up and regaining his strength, and to have had a few weeks of practice behind him before putting on shoulder pads for Week 1’s game with the Carolina Panthers. If he can beat that timeline, even better. If he takes longer, well. That’s why his contract is structured the way it is. For his part, Young is eager to get back on the field and learn from veteran teammates like Cameron Jordan.

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Tracy Walker offers a hopeful update on his Achilles rehab progress

Lions safety Tracy Walker offers a hopeful update on his Achilles surgery rehab progress

The recent defensive revival in Detroit has come without one of the team’s leaders being on the field. Safety Tracy Walker has been out since Week 3, when the veteran tore his Achilles in the loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Walker remains engaged with the team and aggressively rehabbing his surgically repaired leg. Based on his post on Saturday, it seems like things are going very well for Walker some three months out from surgery.

Walker wrote,

“Also for my people who want to know how my recovery going. I’m ahead of schedule on when I come back from my injury so stay tuned!”

From the Lions official social media account:

Getting Walker back at full speed in 2023 would be a great boon for the youthful secondary. He has two years left on his three-year, $25 million contract with the Lions.

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Tyron Smith rehabs at Cowboys practice, inches toward 2022 debut

The 8-time Pro Bowler has not had his 21-day practice window activated yet, but is trending toward a return to action before season’s end. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Tyron Smith has taken an important step closer to his return from a nasty preseason hamstring injury, though he’s still several weeks away from making his 2022 debut.

The eight-time Pro Bowler was seen working on resistance cords with Britt Brown, the Cowboys’ director of rehabilitation, on Thursday. He’s not yet been activated to officially practice with the team, but the development shows good progress in that direction for the veteran, who will turn 32 next month.

Just before the start of the season, Smith suffered an avulsion fracture of the knee. That means the hamstring tendon that sits at the back of the knee was ripped off the bone. Early reports suggested that he might be available for a December return, a timeline that now seems to be playing out as accurate.

Once the Cowboys open Smith’s practice window, they’ll have 21 days to move him to the active roster, but, as ESPN’s Todd Archer points out, it seems unlikely that would happen until after Thanksgiving, given the abnormal practice schedule surrounding the holiday.

The team has no real need to rush the former first-round pick back, as rookie Tyler Smith has played very well at left tackle. It’s not known how the return of the elder Smith will impact the assignments along the offensive line, but the younger Smith had spent most of training camp at left guard- alongside Tyron- before his injury.

And the Cowboys are adding even more depth at the position. On Wednesday, they signed two extra tackles to the practice squad.

George Moore is an undrafted rookie who was in training camp with the Packers before being one of the team’s early cuts. A six-foot-six-inch 312-pounder out of Oregon, Moore was a two-year starter for the Ducks and saw plenty of practice reps in Eugene against the Giants’ fifth overall pick this year, Kayvon Thibodeaux.

Alex Taylor is a raw prospect out of South Carolina State with intriguing physical measurables. He stands nearly six-foot-nine and has a massive arm length of over 36 inches. PFF’s Marcus Mosher points out that, since 1990, only 16 offensive lineman in the league have had that kind of wingspan, and three of them are currently on the Cowboys’ payroll: Taylor, the injured rookie Matt Waletzko… and Tyron Smith.

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After rehabbing, Seahawks safety Jamal Adams can now do ‘everything’

Seattle Seahawks safety Jamal Adams has been rehabbing his injuries all offseason and now says he is able to do “everything” on the field.

Seattle Seahawks safety Jamal Adams returned to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton this week for physicals and the start of the team’s mandatory minicamp on Tuesday. His plan is to be ready to go by training camp later in the summer.

Adams spent the offseason undergoing procedures and rehabbing both his shoulder and fingers, two of which he had fused after suffering numerous dislocations.

Adams wasn’t a full participant in Tuesday’s practice, but he was able to participate in the walk-through with fellow safety Quandre Diggs.

“God is good, man, I’m back,” Adams told reporters. “I’m feeling good, just going to take it day to day, and obviously be ready for training camp.”

He was then asked what he was physically able to do at this point in his recovery and his response was succinct; “Everything,” Adams said.

The Seahawks return to the practice field on Wednesday for the second day of minicamp.

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Steve Sarkisian opens up about how Nick Saban helped him

Nick Saban is known for bringing in former coaches, augmenting their coaching abilities, and enabling them to leave for other coaching jobs.

Former Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian has a new home in Austin, Texas, as the head coach of the University of Texas Longhorns. His journey to this landing spot was not a smooth one, but he got a little help along the way from one of the game’s elite figures.

In a recent interview with CBS Sports, Sarkisian opened up about his return to Tuscaloosa after a failed stint in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons.

He claims to have known he wanted to be a head coach again during the 2020 Iron Bowl, when Sarkisian had to coach the Crimson Tide because Saban was out due to COVID protocols. Having one of the greatest coaches to ever enter the game have faith in Sarkisian to take over the program for a rivalry game means a lot.

“What I learned for myself was to get the trust and stamp of approval from him was almost like the last piece of the puzzle for me,” Sarkisian said. “He entrusted me to call the game very aggressively. He entrusted me to put our players in a place to be successful. Ultimately, he entrusted (the team) to me when he couldn’t be there. I could be the head football coach for a game.”

Sarkisian knew when he was offered a coordinator job at Alabama that it would be a step in the direction of becoming a head coach again.

“I didn’t know enough of the ‘whys,'” Sarkisian said. “I knew what coach Saban was doing. I knew how he did it. I didn’t know why he did what he did. I just said, ‘I have a chance to go back to Alabama to get the finishing touches on my career, which is to be a head coach again.’

Now, Sarkisian joins a handful of coaches across the country that have ties to Nick Saban and Tuscaloosa. There are no guarantees in college football, nor is there much job security. Sarkisian has a heavy task ahead of him, as he’ll take the reins of one of the most storied programs in college football history.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.

Tiger Woods on his recovery from single-car accident: ‘Taking it one step at a time’

Tiger Woods is focused not on a return to golf but on simply walking on his own.

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Speaking publicly for the first time since a single-car accident three months ago nearly took his life, Tiger Woods is focused not on a return to golf but on his recovery.

“This has been an entirely different animal,” Woods told Golf Digest’s Daniel Rappaport in an exclusive interview. “I understand more of the rehab processes because of my past injuries, but this was more painful than anything I have ever experienced.”

Woods sustained serious injuries to his right leg, ankle and foot in an early morning crash in the Los Angeles area on February 23. He suffered “open” fractures in his tibia and fibula which required immediate surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, according to a statement issued by the hospital. He also had a rod inserted in his tibia and pins and screws placed in his ankle and foot.

Woods, 45, has been rehabbing in his Florida home for two months.

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“My physical therapy has been keeping me busy. I do my routines every day and am focused on my No. 1 goal right now: walking on my own. Taking it one step at a time,” Woods told Golf Digest.

Woods has vast experience in dealing with recoveries. He has had five surgical procedures on his left knee and five surgeries on his back, including spinal fusion in April of 2017. This past December he had his fourth microdiscectomy surgery.

In April, Woods posted a photo to Instagram of himself in his back yard wearing a walking boot and on crutches, smiling next to his dog, Bugs.

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“It’s funny because in that photo, the crutches definitely make my shoulders look big,” Woods said. “Maybe it’s the workouts, too. It’s been nice having the ability to still stay strong and work out my upper body.”

Earlier this week, another photo of Woods posted by a Florida girl fighting cancer who met the 15-time major champion showed Woods without his walking boot and wearing a compression stocking on his right leg.

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Trevor Lawrence rehab update: Recovery going ‘very well’ so far

The likely first overall pick is a month removed from shoulder surgery, and his rehab process is reportedly going “very well.”

Jaguars fans anxiously watch as Jacksonville’s most valuable shoulder continues to rehabilitate. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the presumed first overall pick in the draft, underwent surgery to fix a torn labrum on his non-throwing shoulder after throwing at his own pro day last month.

According to an update from NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the rehab is going ‘really well.’

“I’ve talked to several people close to Trevor Lawrence, and everyone says the same thing. He’s doing well, very well, and ahead of schedule,” he said. “We are about a month in from surgery with Trevor Lawrence.”

According to Rapoport, Lawrence is just around a month away from being able to throw again. The hope is that he is fully able to go by the time training camp begins for the Jaguars in July. Rapoport also stated that Lawrence has remained in communication with the Jags.

“It’s going to be about a five or six-month rehab,” Rapoport said. “We are a month into that. He’s still out there in California actually working out with a physical therapist named Drew Marcos just to make sure he is getting ready as fast as possible. He’s not quite throwing yet. I would say in about four or five weeks from the people that I have spoken with, he should be throwing …

He has been participating in several zooms with the Jacksonville Jaguars coaches, presumably including Urban Meyer, just to make sure he is up on everything that he can be.”

Lawrence reportedly worked with Meyer to coordinate his early private pro day with the purpose of moving up the timeline of his surgery. He is expected to be fully healthy by the fall.

As for Lawrence’s meetings with the team, that was something Jags general manager Trent Baalke spoke on this week. He stated that the Jags had two virtual meetings with the Clemson star, both of which were “coach-oriented,” meaning those meetings involved Meyer and his coaching assistants. However, with each team being allowed five zoom meeting per player, Baalke and his front office personnel will get to meet Lawrence in the near future, too.

‘Hold my crutches’, progressing Prescott tells Elliott in response to ESPN’s Cowboys joke

The QB, recovering from injury, responded to a social media post pointing out how long it’s been since the team played for an NFC title.

ESPN’s social media team had a little fun at the Cowboys’ expense on Monday, sharing a post meant to highlight Dallas’s postseason futility over the past quarter-century.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott clapped back with a response of his own that’s sure to resonate with the team’s fans, promising to reverse that trend just as soon as he’s healthy again. And a recent report indicates that Prescott is making “great progress” toward that end.

The Worldwide Leader added to their postgame coverage of the weekend’s NFC Divisional round with an Instagram post originally put out by the NFL_Memes Twitter account. The post points out the disparity between the number of NFC Championship Games the Cowboys have been to since 1997 and the number that Tom Brady has been to.

The punch line, obviously, is that Dallas hasn’t played for the conference title in twenty-four years, while Brady did it in his first season since coming over from the AFC.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKMMwMVhhXJ/

Okay, sure, kick the Cowboys while they’re down. But Prescott saw the post, too. And he took the opportunity to make sure Dallas fans know that he’s working hard to be ready to contend for the very next conference crown come 2021.

Jumping into the comments, Prescott tagged Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and replied, “Hold my crutches,” as first noticed by Mauricio Rodriguez.

The five-year veteran was off to a blistering start in 2020, on pace to shatter passing yardage records before a gruesome compound fracture and ankle dislocation brought his season to an end in Week 5.

Since then, he’s been rehabbing the ankle and is reportedly on track to re-join the team when official activities begin in the spring. All this comes while he is also preparing to enter into negotiations with Cowboys ownership over his next contract. Prescott played in 2020 under the franchise tag after talks between the two sides over the summer could not bring about new terms.

A healthy Prescott could mean big things for a talented Cowboys club that woefully underachieved this past season, and the two-time Pro Bowler is apparently making serious strides in proving to owner Jerry Jones that he will be fully ready to roll in 2021.

NFL insider Ian Rapoport gave an update on Saturday’s edition of NFL GameDay Morning, one that should be music to the ears of Cowboys Nation.

“He’s coming along great,” Rapoport said, citing unnamed but multiple sources. “He’s walking right now, which is a big step, working the anti-gravity treadmill and the HydroWorx pool, which takes pressure off his ankle but allows him to get in shape. He is making great progress, and based on the work he’s put in, what they think, he’s going to come back better than ever.”

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