Woods Not Worried About Comeback From Knee Surgery

The veteran wide receiver, acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams, is confident that he will be healthy and strong enough to contribute this season.

NASHVILLE – No timetable. No worries.

That pretty much sums up what wide receiver Robert Woods said about his recovery from reconstructive knee surgery after he joined Tennessee Titans this week in a trade

The Titans have been relatively quiet in the free agent market since the start of the NFL’s new contract year (March 16) but made a significant move when they dealt a 2023 sixth-round pick to the Los Angeles Rams for Woods, who came with a four-year, $65 million contract that runs through 2025. He also arrived amid rehabilitation from major surgery to correct a season-ending knee injury sustained last November.

That makes 2022 the second straight year in which general manager Jon Robinson’s most pricey offseason addition was a player on the mend from reconstructive knee surgery.

In 2021, the Titans gave a five-year, $82.5 million deal to outside linebacker Bud Dupree, whose 2020 season ended with a knee injury in Week 11. Dupree was seriously limited throughout the offseason and training camp but was on the field when Tennessee hosted the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1. Even that, though, turned out to be – by Dupree’s own admission – too much too soon.

“My goal is to be out there,” Woods said this week. “My goal is to work hard and do everything possible to be physically ready [for the start of the season]. I personally have goals to be out there and to be strong.”

Woods’ injury occurred during a practice ahead of a Week 10 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers, days after the Titans beat the Rams in Los Angeles (Woods had seven receptions for 98 yards in that contest). That was about three weeks earlier in the calendar than when Dupree went down in his final season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

There is precedent, therefore, that proves it is possible Woods can be healthy enough to play when the Titans open their next season. Plus, he believes the particulars of his injury will help him in his quest to return to play quickly.

“I had a clean tear, fortunately,” Woods said. “Nothing else was involved with it. I’m really just trying to get back as fast as I can and healthy, obviously.

“No timetable, but [I am] right on track … and when the team is ready for me to get out there, I’ll be good.”

In a way, however, it already has been a longer process than he expected. Much longer.

“Yeah, it shocked me,” Woods said. “I was running with the ball. I tried to make a cut. Fell down. Went to the other field. Ran. Cut. Jogged. And I thought I was fine.

“When I got the news it was a torn ACL, it was shocking.”

It was also his first significant injury in a career that started when the Buffalo Bills selected him in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Woods played at least 12 games in each of his first eight years in the league. From 2018-20, he missed just one contest.

Woods admitted to some initial concern that the nature of the injury combined with his age (he will turn 30 in two weeks) and the position he plays could have meant his career was finished.

Those fears are now long gone, and his return to full health – he believes – is not far off.

“I missed the end of the season last year,” Woods said. “So, I’m going to everything (possible) with the training staff and coaching staff to be out there.

“… It’s thrilling for me just to be able to come back. I feel like I’m in the middle of my career. Really, my thing is just getting back as strong as a I can, pick back up where I left off and add some more strength and power.”