La'el Collins Shares Positive Update on Recovery After Knee Reconstruction Surgery

Collins suffered the injury on Dec. 24 and underwent surgery in January.

Author:
James Rapien
Publish date:
Apr 24, 2023 11:56 AM EDT

In this story:

CINCINNATI — Bengals right tackle La'el Collins spoke with the reporters on Monday for the first time since he suffered a torn ACL in December.

The veteran was in good spirits and is confident that he'll be healthy this season.

"That's all up to the main upstairs. I'm going to leave that in his hands," Collins said when asked about a potential Week 1 return. "I just know that each and every day I wake up, I feel stronger and I'm doing something that I wasn't doing the day before. I will say this, at the end of my workout last week, I was able to take some pass sets. That felt good."

Collins started 15 games for the Bengals last season, despite dealing with multiple injuries. Those ailments have been able to heal over the past few months.

"This is probably the best I've felt," Collins said. "Probably the first offseason I've felt as good as I really feel, just as a whole. I did a few checkups on a few things, and everything looks better than it did before. I'm super excited to go into this season knowing how I feel as a whole.

"I didn't go into the season healthy at all. I just played through it. For me, that's why I say right now ... with the rehab and everything too, I know I'm going to go into this season a whole lot healthier than I was last year. I think it's going to be night and day."

Collins can focus solely on his left knee now that those other issues are no longer lingering. He's making progress daily and is excited about getting back on the field.

"There's just little things you do every day. It could be the smallest thing. Those things start to add up," Collins said. "I started to see how my knee feels every day, just walking around. I literally feel like I can run. I feel that good. I'm just taking it one day at a time, though."

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