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How Browns DE Alex Wright has made peace with his Achilles injury
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- How Browns DE Alex Wright has made peace with his Achilles injury
BEREA ― The first reaction for Alex Wright was anger.
The anger, though, wasn't directed towards the pain the Browns defensive end felt in his right foot as he sat on the ground during a one-one-one drill during their Aug. 20 joint practice with the Buffalo Bills . It was about to be directed at a then-unidentified teammate.
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"It felt like somebody tripped me from behind," Wright said Sept. 10. "The first thing I did was look back, and I got p-----. I was like, 'Who the hell is behind me?' I'm like, 'Why the f--- is you behind me?' I'm looking, I'm like, 'Nobody's right there.'"
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That's when Wright tried to get up. It was then that the real pain began, as he described his foot as "hanging, like I was pressing the gas pedal."
What Wright initially thought was a broken or dislocated foot, his position coach, Jacques Cesaire, instantly could tell was something much worse. It was the dreaded Achilles tear, the last thing any athlete wants to hear, even if it takes them time to process those words.
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"I got told the news and I just sat there and I just rolled with it," Wright said. "I called my mother. She was upset about it, but I don't think it hit me. It didn't hit me until all the guys came in the training room. And then that's when I started crying and stuff like that. Everybody was around me and it just felt like, it was just like, what could I have done? It was just like, why is this happening to me? You not supposed to question God about stuff, but I was just really in a state of mind like, why?"
Wright was sitting in front of his locker just days before the Browns open their season Sept. 13 at the Jacksonville Jaguars. The memory of that mid-August afternoon when his season ended before it could even begin was still running fresh in his mind.
The initial reaction Wright had when it occurred, anger, wasn't just directed at the invisible person he initially thought was responsible for him ending up on the ground. It was directed at the latest setback to his career that has seemingly run into such injuries whenever it was appearing to take off.
However, as with the initial reaction, there was a change in direction as new information appeared. For Wright, that new information came from conversations not just with family, but also defensive line coach Jacques Cesaire, head coach Todd Monken and general manager Andrew Berry.
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"Some days I do get emotional a little bit because I had big plans this year," Wright said. "But just looking back at the video and just talking to the training staff and just talking to Jacques and stuff like that, there was just nothing I could do. It wasn't like a push off, like a regular get off and I hurt myself. It's just doing something that I do every day. … They (Berry and Monken) were like, you're a leader on this team, so I still want everybody to see your face. But I pretty much just attack it. I always say, it could be worse. I could, my career is not over. I'm still alive. My life is just altered right now, but it's just temporary."
Wright signed a three-year, $33 million extension last November, in the midst of his best season of his first four. Playing opposite of record-setting NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, he recorded a career-high 5.5 sacks and 22 total pressures in 14 games.
Garrett was traded to the Los Angeles Rams on June 1 in exchange for defensive end Jared Verse and three draft picks. At that moment, Wright became one of the leaders for the defensive line, and served as a therapist for many working through their feelings over the trade.
Wright may seem like the one who needs someone to talk to after the injury. However, he's seeing an opportunity even in the midst of what is an admittedly crushing moment of his career.
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"Everybody that knows how it feels to tear your Achilles, it's not a good feeling because you have your plans, you have your goals in mind, you have your confidence, you have this, that and third," Wright said. "And I was like, I just got to focus on everything else while rehabbing, but at the same time, just don't put too much on your plate. … At the end of the day, I already know when they go out there on Sunday, I'm going to feel some type of way because I'm not out there. But I feel like I know they'll have me out there, I'm still going to be watching. I'm still going to be talking with Jacques and stuff like that."
The 2025 season was the second time in Wright's career he's reached five-plus sacks. He had five sacks in his second season in 2023, the last time he played at least 16 games in a season.
The following year, in 2024, Wright started strong ― including a late sack of Jacksonville's Trevor Lawrence in a Week 2 win ― but underwent triceps surgery after four games, costing him the final 13 games. Wright still has the brace he wore with that injury, a constant reminder of that momentary bump in the road that's been his career.
"I still remember that," Wright said. "I still, just like with this, I'm still going to remember this. So it's just another why of just pushing yourself every day. Like I say, it's not the end of the world. It feels like the end of the world, but I mean, at the end of day it's reality because somebody always have a worse deck of cards than you do."
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Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ. Sign up for Browns Insider newsletter at https://profile.beaconjournal.com/newsletters/browns-insider/
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: How Browns DE Alex Wright has made peace with his Achilles injury
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