After a grueling rehab where Sydney Brown “dominated the process,” the second-year safety is on the cusp of returning from his ACL injury suffered a scant nine months ago.
For those who’ve watched Brown working on a side field with trainer Jerome Reid or studiously taking an estimated 1,200 mental reps over the spring and summer the surprise is that it took this long.
Brown, 24, has shown his trademarked burst and 4.47 speed for weeks now and if left to his own devices, Brown admitted he wanted back into things at six months.
The biggest barrier for Brown was not the physical part of the rehabilitation process or even the mental hurdle which was significant. It was the patience needed to allow his injury to heal properly.
“For me, [patience] was the hardest thing because you want to be out there,” Brown said at his locker before practice on Thursday. “Really around the six-month mark, I was ready to be back on the field.”
ACL grafts take a certain time to heal, however, and Brown needed to listen to the doctors.
“That’s the strong deadline but I mean, if you look at the timing of it, I'm really up like the eight-month mark -from surgery], just a little bit before,” Brown said. “So, yeah, really, nine months is where they see the graft they throw the nerve through. I'm not even trying to get into the science, or whatever.
“From my understanding, nine nine-month mark is like the strongest when you're supposed to return.”
The mental toll was real as well.
"You gotta stay strong up here," Brown said while pointing to his head. "There's gonna be tough days. ... Like, I remember the first time I started jumping again. I thought I re-tore my ACL"
The give and take for getting back a little early is a bulky brace that Brown is being forced to use and one he hopes he can ditch as soon as possible.
“It's not even my choice, it's mostly my doctors and it's because I'm returning earlier than expected,” Brown surmised. “So, yeah, I mean, I'm just thinking about where the brace is and if I have to pull about any higher. When I can take this f@#$ing thing off. I mean, I'm gonna try and make it look cool."
Shortly after tearing his ACL, the foundation for Brown's return came from Eagles senior advisor to the general manager/chief security officer/gameday coaching operations Dom DiSandro.
“This is really my first long-term injury. So, you know, I'm a big believer in positive energy and positive attitudes bringing positive outcomes,” Brown said, “So I told myself every single day that I was gonna bring it even on the hard days, but also with, like, early conversations with Dom and Jerome.”
DiSandro planted the seed that a positive mindset is the best way to produce a positive outcome.
In the end that seed produced what the world will likely get to see Sunday against Cleveland.
“I'm just excited to be back, but again with anything in life, I think if you do have a positive energy, you have a positive attitude, you will have positive outcomes,” said Brown. “I think that's exactly why I dominated this entire process."
