Dre Greenlaw's 2023 NFL season came to an abrupt end after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in the 49ers' Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, but the star linebacker is on the road to recovery.
While speaking to NBC Sports Bay Area's Laura Britt at the Dwight Clark Legacy Series on Thursday night in San Jose, Greenlaw revealed that he's encouraged with the progress he's making while he works to make it back on the field, Jordan Elliott of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.
"It's a long slow process, I'm, feeling really, really good though," Greenlaw told Britt. "I'm happy to be able to walk on the stage actually. It's been about three months since the injury, I just recently got out the boot. Just slowly every day rehabbing, getting the strength, getting the mobility and doing whatever it takes to get on the field as soon as possible."
Britt then asked Greenlaw about how he dealt with the early process of his rehab, which the star linebacker revealed was a rough stretch that left him emotional at times.
"It was definitely some hard, hard times," Greenlaw shared. "Thankfully I had my son and my fiance with me to support me through those times. I was getting a lot of phone calls and people checking up, but after about a week that dies down and you're just kind of laying in bed. Every now and then you'll get a memory or a thought about the game and try not to think about it too much, just kind of try to put it past you. Every now and then you start just thinking about everything and thinking about where you're at and it does get a little emotional sometimes."
"I just know I can't stop. If I stop, nobody is going to do it for me. Just got to keep going."
The 49ers signed former Green Bay linebacker De’Vondre Campbell to a one-year, $5 million deal in free agency. 49ers GM John Lynch said in March that Greenlaw could open the season on the physically unable to perform list, requiring him to make his season debut in Week 5 at the earliest.
“He’ll tell you he’s going to be back Week 1, but we have to be smart,” Lynch said, via Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle. “That may be a PUP situation. De’Vondre gives us an opportunity to fill in for Dre if he’s not there.”
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