Safety Kam Chancellor and left tackle Russell Okung were both drafted in 2010, they have both earned Pro Bowl honors, and this offseason they both had surgery that caused them to miss offseason workouts and the beginning of training camp. On Monday, both returned to the practice field, though on a limited basis, and on Tuesday both discussed their returns to action with the media.
“I’m feeling great,” Chancellor said. “Feeling really good.”
“I’m on schedule of where I want to be. I feel like I’m getting healthy. I feel like I’m on a perfect schedule to get right back on the field and get ready to go.”
Chancellor confirmed that the hip injury he had cleaned up is an old one, something that has bothered him going back to his college days at Virginia Tech.
“It was just something to clean up some old stuff that was going on through my hip,” he said. “It’s better now and I’m ready to keep going… It was something that lingered from college. It was something I dealt with for a while, some of the pain and whatnot, fought through it, but now it’s good.”
When the questions kept coming about his injury, Chancellor laughed and said, “My hip feels fine.”
Asked if he would play at all this preseason—there is virtually no chance he’ll play in this week’s game—Chancellor said, “I’m not sure yet. Whenever the team allows me to get out there and play my game, I’ll go out there.”
“I’m just going to go out here and practice day-to-day, do whatever the coaches ask me to do, and go in whenever they allow me to.”
As for Okung, the left tackle needed foot surgery this offseason following an injury that cost him eight games last season, and clearly affected him the rest of the way.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said. “It’s great to be back out here after a really long offseason, at least to me. Now that I’m on my path to recovery, I’m just very grateful to be back out here playing some ball.”
Asked about the decision to have surgery—Pete Carroll had said after the season that Okung may not need it—Okung said, “We just sat down with the coaches and training staff, and thought it was my best move going forward. We didn’t really want to struggle with it anymore, and I’m just glad I’m back.”
Okung didn’t get into details when asked how much the injury affected him late last season, saying only that, “Football’s a tough game. There’s not a guy out there who’s not playing hurt, so you just kind of accept it and role with the punches.”
Asked how close he is to being all the way back, Okung said, “Really close, really close.”
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