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Detroit Lions CB Khalil Dorsey just glad to be walking, driving after gruesome leg injury
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- Detroit Lions CB Khalil Dorsey just glad to be walking, driving after gruesome leg injury
Khalil Dorsey is happy to be back doing the little things again.
Walking. Driving. Going to the bathroom.
"Finally became a little more independent," Dorsey told the Free Press this week in his first public comments since he broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg Dec. 15 against the Buffalo Bills. "No one ever thinks about like when they go to the bathroom and sit down. I couldn't fully bend my knee and I couldn't go upstairs, really. We have a little half bathroom on the first floor, but it's tiny, so I would have to leave the door open and angle myself. I think that was the weirdest thing."
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Dorsey still faces a long road to recovery from an injury he suffered in a high-speed collision with teammate Ezekiel Turner, but the Detroit Lions cornerback was in good spirits Monday.
Khalil Dorsey is carted off the field with an ankle injury during the first half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024.
He ditched his crutches the week before the Lions' divisional playoff loss to the Washington Commanders , and he's been through enough injuries before – he suffered season-ending shoulder injuries in each of his first two seasons with the Baltimore Ravens – to believe he can get back to being the player he was before his broken leg.
"I kind of know how to get to it and get through it, but it's just trying to get that confidence back, trying to get that speed back," Dorsey said. "That's all I'm thinking about is trying to get to just being me. And that takes a little while."
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Dorsey said doctors gave him an initial four- to six-month rehab timeline, similar to the one Aidan Hutchinson faced after he broke his leg in an October win over the Dallas Cowboys.
Dorsey said he knew immediately something was seriously wrong with his leg when he clipped Turner while defending a crossing route on a third-and-goal play against the Bills.
The pain was intolerable, he said, though trainers tried to keep him calm by assuring him everything would be all right.
"I couldn't move," Dorsey said. "I tried to, I couldn't move. I was like, 'All right, I got to hold it.' It was all bad. I didn't even look at it the whole time. So I went down and I was grabbing kind of like that upper shin part and I just knew something was wrong. So I was waiting for somebody to come out and then pretty much I was like, 'I'm not going to look, cause I know it's probably going to be bad.'
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"I'm not saying I (couldn't) feel my toes, but I don't know what's going on down there. It just got super warm and I just remember, I was going to look when they got over to me and Spencer (Dennison, one of the Lions trainers, is) like, 'Nah, nah, you're good. You're good.'"
Aug 17, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs running back Keaontay Ingram (30) runs the ball as Detroit Lions cornerback Khalil Dorsey (30) defends during the first half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Trainers immobilized Dorsey's leg and loaded him into a waiting ambulance, where he was taken to a local hospital.
He underwent surgery during the Lions-Bills game and woke up in pain at 4:30 a.m. the next morning.
"I was like, 'Be honest with me,' (to one of the trainers)," Dorsey said. "'How bad is it?' He was like, 'Nah, it's not that bad.' He was just trying to keep me calm, knowing damn well there was something wrong with it. But he didn't know specifically what it was, so he didn't want to freak me out. So I was like, all right, understandable. And then, yeah, from there I just saw a whole bunch of ceiling."
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One of the Lions' best special teams players and a backup cornerback this season, Dorsey will be an unrestricted free agent in March.
He likely won't garner major interest because of his injury, and said he hopes to re-sign with the Lions in 2025.
"They say four to six months, but I mean, it could take longer, it could take less," he said. "I want to come back when I know I could be exactly how I was. Or even better than before."
Dave Birkett is the author of the book, " Detroit Lions : An Illustrated Timeline." Order your copy here. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Khalil Dorsey confident he'll be better after leg injury
