Reggie Wayne Back In Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS – Sunday marks the sixth-month “anniversary” of Reggie Wayne limping off the Lucas Oil Stadium turf with a torn ACL.

It’s not an anniversary any NFL player hopes to have but Wayne’s approach to a strenuous offseason is what you would expect from a six-time Pro Bowler entering his 14th NFL season.

On Friday night, Wayne hosted a charity event to benefit the American Cancer Society and he shared his thoughts on his rehab and the 2014 season with OTAs beginning on Monday.

On if the rehab process is “easier” after going through it during his sophomore year at Miami:
“I don’t think it ever gets easy. I really believe that going through it before, it gives you perspective on what’s next. People that really never had that particular surgery don’t know what to look forward to or what’s next. I kind of already had my foot in the door. But it never gets easy. It’s always tough. Everybody knows the first three weeks is tough then you are going to plateau a little bit. Then you are going to go down and you’ve got to find a way to get yourself back up. It’s been challenging but at the same time I’ve taken it in stride.”

On what motivates him to return to the playing field:
“They say whatever you’re doing you need to find something that motivates you. I could easily say my kids, my family, my boys. When I told them I was done for the year, I could see their shoulders just sink. I could easily say that’s my motivation but that’s understood. You look outside the box. You guys (the media) are the ones that say I can’t do it. ‘You’re 35. You’re over the hill. No way I can comeback the same.’ I wasn’t a big newspaper reader but I’ve become one. Hopefully I can get you guys to kind of sing another tune and next time I read it, you can say I finally found my youth.”

On the key to having a successful rehab process:
“I think being disciplined is the main thing. You are going to have them days when you really don’t want to get out of bed and rehab but you have to be disciplined to go out there and do it. I really look at is as life. My definition of life is what happens when you expect something else. You’ve got to deal with it. I just get back and if I want to continue to play football then I’ve got to go out and grind. If I want to prove some naysayers wrong, I’ve got to get out and grind. I do understand that’s part of it. I’m excited. I feel great and hopefully they let me loose a little bit. I know they are going to hold me down a little bit, which is probably the right thing to do. But they can believe I’m that dog that keeps jumping over the fence. Hopefully they can contain me.”

On his thoughts on the 2014 Colts:
“I feel great. I’m excited. I’m excited about the team we are building. I feel like we are going in the right direction so hopefully the new additions we’ve added, get them on the same program, get everybody just going upward. We know that we are close but we still have a long way to go. Hopefully we can use this offseason to get better and better and go from there.”

On what OTAs mean to him:
“I really believe that this is the time where teams take that next step. If you take this time here and take it for granted, you take a down step. I really feel the early part of the offseason is where you get better and hopefully everybody has that same mindset and can take advantage of it.”


(colts.com)