Steelers

Ebron posts workout video, says ankle feels 'great'

Apr 14, 2020 • 2:25 pm

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Eric Ebron flirted with a 4.5-second 40-yard dash out of college, running an unofficial 4.53 and an official 4.60. He caught 13 touchdown passes just two years ago with the Colts, earning a Pro Bowl nod for his performance. He went 10th overall in the 2014 NFL Draft to the Lions, the highest-selected player at the position since Vernon Davis went sixth overall in 2006 until the Lions did it again, selecting T.J. Hockensen eighth overall just last year in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Point is: Ebron's talent is as legit as it gets at tight end. He's a receiving threat with size, speed and skill, and the Steelers figure to deploy him alongside Vance McDonald to give opposing defenses fits in 2020.

There's just one problem: Through six seasons in the NFL, Ebron's appeared in 83 of 96 possible games, and he's coming off an ankle injury that plagued the entirety of his 2019 campaign with the Colts — just two starts in 11 total game appearances — before he finally packed it in, went to the injured reserve and got the surgery he needed to bounce back.

“I had to get my ankle pretty much cleaned up. Inside,” Ebron was saying during his introductory conference call with Pittsburgh media in early April. " ... There was a lot of mess in there. A lot of mess.

“Nobody knows the specifics, and I guess that’s not for me to really explain,” Ebron continued. “All I know is I’ve had an injury since Aug. 4 and I played through an injury [until] the time I decided to, you know, say I couldn’t do it any longer. And that was simply my choice for my health … I made that choice. I went and told them I was making that choice a week before I made the choice, so it was well thought out. Well known about. But it’s not my job to explain the story. I was hurt, and nobody likes to play hurt.”

Just as the red flags started to rise, Ebron sensed a little tension and assured everyone:

“I’m great [now] ... If the season was to start today, I don’t think I’d be able to 100 percent perform today,” Ebron said. “But we don’t play today. That is the reason I got the [surgery] when I did is so that I knew my body would be fully healthy for the next time I step foot on the football field.”

Now, taking to his Instagram story, Ebron's putting his workouts where his mouth is:

Sure, it's just a workout, but it's a positive sign here in mid-April, and it does showcase some stress and pressure applied to that surgically repaired ankle through explosive box jumps.

A healthy Ebron, alongside a healthy Ben Roethlisberger, should ignite a Steelers offense that ranked 30th in total yards per game and 31st in passing yards per game in 2019. If early signs like that workout video above (note the shoes, by the way) and this ...