{"id":21426,"date":"2014-08-10T20:08:51","date_gmt":"2014-08-10T12:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=21426"},"modified":"2025-01-12T05:28:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T10:28:06","slug":"nfl-2014-a-year-removed-from-lost-seasons-big-name-players-aiming-for-big-time-comebacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/08\/10\/nfl-2014-a-year-removed-from-lost-seasons-big-name-players-aiming-for-big-time-comebacks\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL 2014: A year removed from lost seasons, big name players aiming for big time comebacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo by Thomas from London, UK \/ 49ers_in_London \/ Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK\u2014Broken bones. Torn ligaments. Subpar performances.<\/p>\n

They all combined to sideline some of the NFL\u2019s biggest stars a year ago, a lost season for several players who spent most of the year in the trainers\u2019 room.<\/p>\n

Rob Gronkowski, Percy Harvin, Julio Jones, Robert Griffin III and Sam Bradford know all about that. So do guys such as Arian Foster, Doug Martin, Jeremy Maclin, Reggie Wayne, Malcom Floyd, Brian Cushing and Geno Atkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was rehabbing every day and it was miserable,\u201d said Gronkowski, the New England tight end who is still working his way back from a vicious two-year stretch in which he has had four forearm surgeries, a back injury and torn knee ligaments.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully that never happens again,\u201d Gronkowski added. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t wish anything on anyone like I had these past few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harvin got a jumpstart on his comeback in February on the NFL\u2019s biggest stage. After missing most of the regular season and the playoffs with a surgically repaired hip and then a concussion, Harvin returned the opening kickoff of the second half of the Super Bowl for a touchdown in helping Seattle beat Denver.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t know if any football player can say they\u2019re fully healthy playing football, but this is the best I\u2019ve felt in a long, long time,\u201d Harvin said as the Seahawks opened training camp.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s Maclin tore a knee ligament in training camp last year and missed the entire season. But after an extensive rehabilitation process, the Eagles are counting on their speedy wide receiver to make big plays again.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe was out there every day in the off-season program and it\u2019s just a matter of him getting his timing back,\u201d Eagles coach Chip Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Wayne was off to a terrific start last year with 38 catches for 503 yards in seven games for Indianapolis. A torn ACL kept him out the last half of the season. Even at 35, he says he is ready to rebound.<\/p>\n

Jones also was on his way to another Pro Bowl season with 41 catches in five games for the Falcons, but a broken right foot sent him to the sideline. He had a special cleat designed for him by Under Armour, a wider shoe that features a steel shank at the bottom for added support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel explosive, I still feel fast,\u201d he said. \u201cI still feel like I can beat one-on-one matchups.<\/p>\n

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\u201d<\/p>\n

San Diego\u2019s Floyd missed almost all of last season after spraining his neck after making a reception at Philadelphia last Sept. 15.<\/p>\n

Foster, one of the NFL\u2019s top running backs when healthy, considered retirement after a back injury limited him to eight games for the Texans.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople die on the football field,\u201d Foster told ESPN. \u201cThis is a really brutal sport. Going through an injury like that, being 27 years old, I\u2019m young, still I\u2019m at the prime of my career. Is it worth it to try to come back?\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin, one of the league\u2019s rising running backs, ran for 1,454 yards and 11 touchdowns for Tampa Bay as a rookie in 2012. Last year, he struggled early, injured his shoulder and his sophomore season was done after just six games.<\/p>\n

Another of the NFL\u2019s top rookies two years ago wasn\u2019t quite the same last season. After tearing his ACL in Washington\u2019s playoff loss, Griffin struggled a year ago to be the electrifying playmaker he was in his first season. With the Redskins out of the playoff hunt, then-coach Mike Shanahan ended Griffin\u2019s season and plugged in Kirk Cousins for the final three games.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, personally, obviously, not having to come off of a knee surgery is a big boost for me,\u201d Griffin said, \u201chaving an opportunity to work on my craft during the off-season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s Mark Sanchez could have a shot, too, after missing all last season with the Jets because of a shoulder injury\u2014but he\u2019s Nick Foles\u2019 backup.<\/p>\n

Griffin and St. Louis\u2019 Sam Bradford, who tore an ACL last season, might be front-runners for the AP Comeback Player of the Year award. Since it began in 1998, 11 of the winners have been quarterbacks\u2014including the last six.<\/p>\n

The award usually goes to a player who has overcome an injury, but San Diego\u2019s Philip Rivers bucked that trend last year when he won it for bouncing back from a season in which he didn\u2019t play up to par. There are a few quarterbacks other than Griffin who could fit that description this year: Baltimore\u2019s Joe Flacco, the Giants\u2019 Eli Manning, Oakland\u2019s Matt Schaub and the Jets\u2019 Michael Vick\u2014already a previous winner\u2014if he overtakes Geno Smith for the job.<\/p>\n

A few defensive players could be in the running, too. Cincinnati\u2019s Atkins (torn ACL) and Leon Hall (torn Achilles tendon), Houston\u2019s Cushing (broken leg, torn ligament) and Denver\u2019s Demarcus Ware (career-low six sacks) are all contenders.<\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s also Ware\u2019s new Broncos teammate Von Miller, who was suspended six games for a drug violation and then lost after nine games with a torn ACL that caused him to miss Denver\u2019s Super Bowl run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been ready mentally back when the Super Bowl was here,\u201d Miller said. \u201cBut the competitor in me is definitely ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP Pro Football Writers Rob Maaddi and Arnie Stapleton, and AP Sports Writers Tim Booth, Charles Odum, Howard Ulman and Joseph White contributed.<\/em><\/p>\n

AP NFL websites:\u00a0www.pro32.ap.org<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0www.twitter.com\/AP_NFL<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u2014Broken bones. Torn ligaments. Subpar performances. They all combined to sideline some of the NFL\u2019s biggest stars a year …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":21427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","mauthors-dennis-waszak-jr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21426"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282748,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21426\/revisions\/282748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}