San Francisco 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa says the latest rehab process has him feeling like he may come out the other side even better than before.
In a conversation with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Bosa talked through the surgery, the recovery, and the little things that have changed along the way. One of those changes, he said, is that the procedure addressed more than just the ACL issue.
“I had a little tendinitis from my high school ACL, and he cleaned that up while he fixed my ACL. That’s gone.
So it’s like an improvement. So once I’m through this rehab, I feel like my right knee -- because that was kind of a chronic issue that I had a little bit, and he cleaned that up in my quad tendon, and that hasn’t been an issue at all -- could feel better when I’m done with this recovery.”
Bosa also laid out why he believes he’s moving faster after his third ACL injury. For him, it comes down to experience, body maintenance, and how much size he carries in his legs from year to year.
“You learn something every time you do it, every year really, injury or not, you kind of learn how to prepare a certain way to be your best. When I came off of the one in 2020, it forced me to..
I don’t know how to explain it. Honestly, my legs get so big when I have years built up of training them.
And it’s not like I trained to bodybuild my legs. They get big.
And I feel like it’s just an observation that I’ve made: coming off that injury in 2020, I was moving better with less mass on my legs.”
He added that the game itself is changing the way he thinks about his body.
“This is a speed game. I’m a power rusher, but speed creates power, and the way you can move is everything.
So I think there’s something to, ‘I move better when my legs aren’t quite as massive.’ I kind of have that feeling right now.”
Bosa even joked with Breer about how long he might keep doing this.
“I should play four more years because I tear my ACL every five years.”
If that ends up being true, the 49ers would certainly take it.
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