NaVorro Bowman: Achilles rehab easier than return from knee injury

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Linebacker NaVorro Bowman, who missed the 49ers' entire 2014 season with a severe knee injury he sustained in January of that year, is going through another dramatic comeback attempt.

When asked how his current rehabilitation from a torn Achilles compares to the knee injury, Bowman said, “It doesn’t.”

Bowman, speaking Thursday after the press conference to introduce coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch, provided an update on his physical status.

“It’s much more easy to deal with,” Bowman said. “(I’m) not spending those long hours warming up, trying to get my workout in. It’s definitely more easy to deal with than my knee. I can definitely see a positive light at the end of the tunnel.”

Bowman sustained a torn left Achilles on Oct. 2 on a non-contact play away from the ball in the 49ers’ Week 4 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. In May 2013, wide receiver Michael Crabtree sustained a torn Achilles during an offseason workout. Crabtree made it back to the playing field six months later for the final five games of the regular season.

“I’m working every single day, doing everything that the trainers are asking me to do,” Bowman said. ‘There’s no timetable set when I’ll be cleared to do every single thing. But the sky’s looking bright for me. I feel great. The key is definitely just improving every single day and giving me confidence, knowing that I will be back.”

Bowman said experience of already going through a lengthy rehab with his left knee – an injury he sustained in the NFC Championship game in Seattle in January 2014 – conditioned him to be in the proper frame of mind for the work necessary to return to action.

“I’m a grinder. Anything that knocks me down, I’m going to get back up,” Bowman said. “It’s just who’s going to stick beside me and remember what I’ve done and keep praying for me that I’m going to get back to where I was.”

Bowman, who turns 29 in May, is a four-time first-team All-Pro selection. He entered the NFL as a third-round draft pick in 2010.

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