Former Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green has missed the past 23 of the Cincinnati Bengals’ 24 games due to injuries, but that hasn’t slowed him down off the field one bit.
Green has been involved in some intense offseason training routines, trying to prove to the football world he is still one of the leagues top receivers in the game. Green’s longtime trainer, 61-year-old former body builder Curtis Winters, says Green’s ankle is healthy as ever. Green has been training with Winters since entering the NFL, making the trips to an Atlanta strip mall that is home to Winters’ “‘80’s-style gym” between a laundromat and a dollar store, Ben Baby of ESPN reported.
“Even though I don’t think he has anything to prove, I think he wanted to prove to everybody he is the person they thought he was originally,” Winters said.
Green has ranked fourth in receiving yards since entering the league in 2011 through 2018. The question now is whether Green can stay healthy or not.
The Bengals did not offer Green a long-term deal due to injury concerns. Instead they opted to use the franchise tag and evaluate Green after the 2020 season. He will make $18.2 million this year.
“Within a few weeks, I realized his ankle was as strong as it’s ever been,” said Winters.
Green has been working on his injury prevention as well as training. Green has suffered toe and ankle injuries that have kept him on the sidelines the past two seasons. He and Reza Hesam, a former Georgia acquaintance who co-founded Adapt Physical Therapy, which focuses on injury prevention, have been working on Green’s landing after going up for balls. Hesam has stated that they worked on Green’s body control as well as landing.
“We did more stuff in testing those ankles, strengthen those ankles, strengthen these toes, learning how to land better,” Green said on July 17th. “Just little things like that I didn’t do in previous years.”
Green could be set for a massive 2020 comeback. He will have a new quarterback passing to him in Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow, which will be an exciting duo to watch.
Green is 32 and is likely to have four more years of solid football in front of him. Should he return to his former self, the Bengals could potentially be scary for the rest of the league this year, coming off a 2-14 season.
“I’m tired of seeing everything — ‘A.J. should be a top-10 if he would’ve played,'” Green said. “All right, let’s get the season started and we can get this thing settled.”
