The San Francisco 49ers are back on the practice field for their organized team activities (OTAs) this week, and they still have quite a few rehabbing players.
Among the group is star defensive end Nick Bosa, who tore his ACL early last season and is looking to be back by the start of the 2026 season. But, as he recovers, Bosa isn’t fully participating in practices this week. And while he’s coming along in his rehab, the star acknowledged it’s been a long road so far.
“It’s different every time,” Bosa
said about the recovery. “Definitely a long road. Never fun, but, as you get better physically, your mind gets better also. So it’s just not about looking ahead, just about day by day getting better and, um, just working back and then kind of figuring things out as you go.
“I’m pretty far along [in my recovery]. I’m out on the field doing a lot of stuff, trying to just take it slow because I tend to push things quicker. And obviously, I got injured pretty early last year, so there’s plenty of time for me to really kind of lay the groundwork to be ready for a long season. So, yeah, it’s going really well, and I plan on being ready.”
For Bosa, this isn’t the first time that he’s dealt with an ACL tear. The star suffered a partially torn right ACL in high school and then tore his left ACL during the 2020 season at MetLife Stadium, causing him to miss the year. Now, he tore his right ACL this past season, adding to the list of injuries he’s dealt with in his career.
Every time one of those major injuries occurs, it can be a mental hurdle to get back on track.
“It was rough early on,” Bosa acknowledged. “Obviously, you just want to be able to play. Especially how good things were going for the defense. And me personally, I felt that was at a pretty high level to start the year. And then as you, you start out wanting to quit and never play again and never put your body in that position again, and then slowly you realize that you love this game and you want to get back to it and get back to.
“And I mean, I’ve never doubted that I could get back to where I am. It’s a good thing I play today and not back when my dad did, because I probably wouldn’t be playing anymore. But luckily, they fix you up pretty good, and I’m feeling really good. So my mind’s also better. I think I’ve obviously had a lot of time to work on that and just kind of enjoy some time off. And all the rest of my body feels pretty darn good. My fingers probably haven’t felt this good in 20 years. So, yeah, I’m excited. It’s been great.”
Additionally, now that he’s gone through the recovery process before, Bosa has learned how to better navigate through the obstacles.
“When I did it in 2020, it was just like balls to the wall, get back, push every milestone as hard as you possibly can, and I probably dealt with some stuff that I didn’t need to deal with in terms of just kind of the bumps in the road of recovery. Now, I’m taking it slow, and I kind of have references to go back and look at.”
“But yeah, I mean, just mentally, like, obviously, I was in a different spot there and now. I mean, it’s just a different time and my second one on this knee, so it was a little different. They took from that patella again. So the tendon needed a little more time to kind of adapt, which was an adjustment, but it feels great.”
The 49ers expect Bosa back by Week 1, and we’ll see how much he’s able to get on the practice field this summer ahead of the season. But it seems like his recovery is going as planned heading into OTAs.
