Pittsburgh Steelers LB Kwon Alexander tore his Achilles tendon in Week 10 against the Green Bay Packers, and on his road to recovery, Alexander has been using an anti-gravity treadmill. The treadmill allows a player to walk/run up to 100% gravity-free, which helps with rehab and recovery. Dr. Jesse Morse posted videos of Alexander using the device on Twitter.
Alexander is less than four months removed from his injury, which occurred on Nov. 12. It’s crazy to see the advances medical technology has taken that allows Alexander to rehab in this way, and it’s going to be interesting to see if it manages to speed up the recovery process.
Alexander signed a one-year deal with Pittsburgh late last July, joining the team in training camp, and played pretty well before getting hurt. He started in a three-man inside linebacker rotation that also featured Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts before suffering his season-ending injury. It was the second time Alexander has suffered an Achilles tear in his career, although this injury occurred to the left Achilles while his first tear was to the right Achilles. Alexander will be 30 at the start of next season and has a pretty lengthy injury history, including an ACL tear, a pectoral tear and a bicep tear. Proving he can get back on the field and recover from this injury is going to be important to prolonging his career.
It’s hard to see Alexander getting a lot of initial interest in the free agent market, and that could allow Pittsburgh to take a patient approach when it comes to deciding on whether or not to retain Alexander. If the Steelers don’t feel comfortable with their room after the draft, they could always circle back to Alexander. Especially if he makes good progress in his recovery, Alexander could be a solid depth piece for the Steelers in 2024.
Pittsburgh is likely to address the inside linebacker room either through the draft or free agency, especially with the team not having a clear timeline on Holcomb’s return from injury. That also adds another reason why Pittsburgh could circle back to Alexander in training camp. If Holcomb isn’t as far along in his recovery, Alexander could be another option depending on where he is in his recovery process.
It’s clear that Alexander is using any avenue available to him to try and speed up his recovery process and get back onto the field. With how he played last season, I wouldn’t hate to see him back in a Steelers uniform on another veteran benefit contract.
