Bengals TE Erick All Puts Anger, Doubt and Injuries Behind Him To Return to His Soul-Smashing Happy Place

Erick All Jr. is in his happy place, and it’s about damn time if you ask him.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ 2024 fourth-round pick is recovered from double-whammy knee surgeries and back on the practice field for the start of OTAs this week.

Not just on the side rehab field, the actual action field with the rest of his teammates – his happy place.

Yes, All is father of two now and devoutly spiritual.

But when it comes to family, faith and football, only two of them can last a lifetime. Football is fleeting, and over the last 19 months, All has questioned whether he would ever play again.

The surgeries are behind him, but the doubt still visits.

“I still do worry about it sometimes,” he said. “You never know.

“No matter how much I believe in God, no matter how much I love my kids, I love this game so much,” All added. “I want to get back here and be a dog for our team and go win the Super Bowl.”

Bengals TE Erick All Jr. Focusing on Future, Not Dwelling on Past

The idea of possibly losing what makes him happy understandably makes All mad.

Usually when a player suffers an injury that requires surgery and forces them to miss time and undergo a grueling rehab, there is nothing to shake a fist at other than fate.

But that’s not the case with All, who spoke candidly Tuesday about why a knee injury of November of 2024 has kept him sidelined for so long.

When All suffered a season-ending right ACL injury against the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 3 of his rookie year in 2024, he said he received devastating news – the surgery to repair the same ACL, which he tore in his final college game at Iowa on Oct. 14, 2023, wasn’t done properly, All said.

“The outside of my knee was unstable, and the tissue was dying from the surgery before,” he said.

He didn’t realize that until he went in for surgery after the 2024 ACL tear and the surgeon informed him he would first have to repair the damage from the original surgery, wait three months and then do the standard ACL procedure.

What could have been a nine or 10-month recovery instead turned into 16, forcing him to not only lose the second half of his rookie season but all of 2025, and potentially the rest of his career.

“To have the significance of the injuries that he's had to miss a whole season, an extra season really – half of the first one and then the whole second one – it's been challenging for him,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “I think he's handled it really well. Now we're in the progression phase getting back on the field with no contact or anything right now. We'll assess training camp as it gets closer, but it's been really good to get him on the field, have him back in the walkthroughs.

“I think mentally for him, that's probably been really helpful, just not sitting over there doing the rehab things,” Taylor continued. “He's got an attitude that you just love. He loves football, that's really clear. He's passionate about it. To be able to get him back out there working with the guys has been big for all of us."

All, who likely would have been selected much higher than the fourth round had he not tore his ACL six months before the draft, helped transform the Cincinnati offense early in his rookie season.

While Mike Gesicki and Tanner Hudson were primarily receiving options, and Drew Sample’s role was a blocker, All could do both. He excelled at both. Because he loved both.

He caught 20 passes on 22 targets for 158 yards. And among tight ends with at least 123 blocking snaps, All ranked 11th in Pro Football Focus grade.

All was a big reason why the Bengals were averaging 4.08 yards per rushing attempt, their highest number of the Taylor era.

“I love to hit,” he said.

“He loves football, and he loves the physical portion of football,” Taylor said. “The word ‘physical’ in the dictionary is a picture of Erick All trying to put his face through somebody’s soul.”

How much longer he’ll get to do that remains to be seen.

Another tear of his right knee likely would mark the end of his career.

All admitted it’s hard not to think about that, but it’s easy to dismiss it as a necessary risk to pursue something he loves.

The regular season is three months away, and All said he feels ready to give his all.

“I feel a lot better than I did when I first got here. Like, a lot better,” he said. “Completely healthy, 2024 season to now. I feel like a completely different person.”

He doesn’t know how his knee will hold up any more than he knows what plan the Bengals coaches have for him in 2026.

But he doesn’t care.

“Whatever they decide to do with me, I’m going to do it to the best of my abilities,” All said. “Whether that is blocking or pulling and killing somebody, or high-pointing a ball down the field, it don’t matter to me.

“I love to hit,” he reiterated. “If they have me hit, I’m in heaven.”

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