CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals’ tight end Erick All wondered the same thing most everyone did as the fallout from his rare double-ACL surgery stole a season-and-a-half of football.His career could be over.“Of course,” All said on Tuesday, standing in front of his locker following his second OTA practice of the offseason. “I still do worry about it sometimes. You never really know.”Nobody knows anything for sure when it comes to All, other than he’s among the easiest players to root for inside Paycor Stadium these days. The journey of the 2024 fourth-round pick to this moment was as mentally challenging as it was long and nearly unprecedented.After tearing his knee in his final season at Iowa in 2023, he says the surgery was not successful and left it unstable entering his rookie year. He played through it, lasting nine games, starting six and becoming a focal point of the offense.All then tore his ACL in Week 10 of 2024 against the Raiders. The assessment from Dr. Daniel Cooper, a renowned orthopedic surgeon and knee specialist based in Texas, was that the damage done from the surgery at Iowa needed to be cleared out. That meant two separate surgeries. The first required a three-month recovery. Once all that healed, he underwent the second knee surgery, this time to fix the ACL, adding another nine-plus months to the rehab timeline.Now, 25 games and 577 days since the injury that put his career in jeopardy, there was All on the Bengals’ practice fields, cutting and accelerating, extending for receptions and ducking into blocking assignments.He’s not technically fully cleared yet, but says if there were a game tomorrow, he feels like he could play. The staff is using caution during the offseason program with him, holding him out of seven-on-seven.“We’re in the progression phase, getting back on the field with no contact or anything right now,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “We’ll assess training camp as it gets closer, but it’s been really good to get him on the field, have him back in the walkthroughs.”To the eye, he looks great. From his mouth, he sounds incredible.“If I’m being quite honest, I feel a lot better than I did when I first got here,” All said. “Like, a lot better. Completely healthy, 2024 season to now, I feel like a completely different person.”When he first got to Cincinnati, he knew the knee would give at some point. He still felt a little wobble in his steps. It just wasn’t stable. That makes it even more remarkable that he not only played as a rookie but also made the Bengals’ coaching staff revamp how they run the offense around him.The Bengals expanded to more two-tight end sets and under-center plays. All was constantly sent in motion pre-snap, unleashing violence on the edge defenders in his path. Mike Gesicki was an obvious receiving tight end and Drew Sample the obvious blocking tight end, but All represented the one truly versatile chess piece.The coaching staff fell in love.“He loves football and he loves the physical portion of football,” Taylor said. “The word physical in the dictionary is a picture of Erick All trying to put his face through somebody’s soul.”The question after the knee finally gave out was if that would be it. Would he be a nine-game flash or produce a second act?Doing so meant surviving the grueling rehab of not one, but two surgeries and the mental torture that goes along with it. The mental side pushed him to the brink.All proudly professes himself as a man of faith. He also had his second son in February. Those factors helped him pull through what he admitted was a far more challenging process than he had anticipated.What really got him to the end, to the point that he looks like a player again capable of the Bengals recalibrating their potent offense around, was merely his obsession with football.“No matter how much I believe in God, no matter how much I love my kids, I love this game so much,” All said. “I want to get back here and be a dog for our team and go win the Super Bowl.”All also dealt with a back injury at the University of Michigan, but the state of his knee was the reason he fell to the fourth round two years ago. The Bengals didn’t care. He was worth the risk, even if the knee blew up. His makeup was elite. His skill set not far behind. He was a versatile, ball-loving, edge-wrecking, ideal teammate.His return has provided a lift far beyond the locker with the No. 83 jersey hanging above a knee brace.“He’s got an attitude that you just love,” Taylor said. “He loves football, that’s really clear. He’s passionate about it. To be able to get him back out there working with the guys has been big for all of us.”You can hear the caution in Taylor’s voice, though. Everyone knows this feel-good story of the summer can evaporate in a snap.