About 352 days ago, Jack Conklin’s season ended only minutes after it had begun as the two-time All-Pro right tackle tore his ACL, MCL, PCL and meniscus after colliding with Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson.
On Aug. 27, Conklin put on his helmet and cleats and stepped onto the practice field as an active participant for the first time since going down in the second quarter of the Browns' opening game of the 2023 season.
Those 352 days were full of hundreds of hours of rehab and physical therapy separating Conklin from a spot in the training room and a spot on the football field. Throughout the process, Conklin kept his focus on celebrating long-term improvement.
"I think when you go through these rehabs, you can't look at the day-to-day," Conklin said Tuesday afternoon. "You've got to look back a week, a month and just start to realize, I have come a long way. Because sometimes, you can get lost if you're trying to look at the day-to-day and you're doing the same thing over and over again. You might not see the results right away. So, you've got to look at the whole picture."
Conklin has experience with rehabbing injuries. He missed nine games in 2021 with elbow and knee injuries, the latter of which ended his season.
It's an experience that Conklin said he is both fortunate and unfortunate to have gone through. No NFL athlete wants to miss time, but – as Conklin put it – "when a 280-pound guy falls on the side of your leg, there's no rehab or strength that's going to stop that from blowing out your knee."
His journey back to the field over the 2022 offseason and return to playing at a high level in 2022 gave him hope that he could repeat the process this year.
"Of course, it's never easy," Conklin said. "But like I said, after going through it before, you know the steps and you have more confidence in knowing that you'll be back and what the process of that is."
Another Brown is also working to get back from a knee injury. RB Nick Chubb, who injured his knee in Week 2 of 2023 – the same knee he injured while at the University of Georgia in 2015 – has was right alongside Conklin as the duo worked through their respective injuries.
Chubb, who was placed on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, will miss the first four games of the season. But for the pair, rehabbing together was a chance to grow – and, as professional competitors, to push and challenge one another.
"We spent almost every day with each other," Conklin said. "And we'd push each other and make fun of each other for different stuff, just to make a little competition and keep things light. So, it was fun to create a stronger bond with him throughout the process."
Both Chubb and Conklin have remained vocal and active as leaders of their position groups. Conklin, who in entering his ninth NFL season, watched practice throughout training camp as the offensive line begins its first season under offensive line coach Andy Dickerson and assistant offensive line coach Roy Istvan, both in their first year with the Browns.
Offensive line coach Bill Callahan departed Cleveland over the offseason to work with his son and newly hired Titans head coach Brian Callahan. Stefanski recognized the unique opportunity Bill had in joining Brian, and both Stefanski and Conklin expressed their admiration for the longtime coach.
However, Conklin has been happy with Dickerson and Istvan, coaches who both boast impressive professional and college coaching resumes.
"I love Bill, he's one of my favorite O-line coaches I've ever had, he taught me a lot," Conklin said. "But Andy and Roy stepping in, they're doing a great job of taking the reins. I know it's hard to follow a guy like Bill, and I think they're doing a great job."
As Conklin prepares to put everything he gathered from meetings and sideline observations into practice, he feels confident. Conklin believed he had been playing his best ball over the preseason and training camp ahead of his 2023 season. He's ready to do that once again.
But for now, Conklin is enjoying getting back into football shape, one individual drill, one practice and one day at a time.
"It's just nice to be back out here with the guys," Conklin said. "It feels like normal again."
