ORCHARD PARK — The video is viral. The one showing Michael Hoecht requesting to watch the remainder of the game from the sideline.
Hoecht’s good spirits continued after the game, sitting in a folding chair in the locker room. It’s unusual for a player who left a game due to injury to be present when the media arrives, let alone a player who sustained an injury as devastating as a torn Achilles tendon. Then throw in the fact that it came at the unluckiest of times.
For nearly 1 ¾ games, Hoecht looked like the steal of free agency. After serving a six-game suspension for performance enhancing drugs, Hoecht didn’t make his Buffalo Bills debut after signing a three-year, $21 million contract until Week 8.
“There were seven quarters last year that I felt like the best player in the NFL,” Hoecht quipped.
Hoecht provided an instant jolt to the Buffalo pass rush, recording two sacks and a tackle for a loss. And his production came at a time when the defensive tackles were ravaged with injuries — Ed Oliver tore his biceps in Hoecht’s first game back — and his ability to slide inside on passing downs was a luxury.
And then, 33 seconds into the fourth quarter of a Week 9 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, Hoecht took one step at the snap and his Achilles buckled. He had every reason to be dejected and frustrated.
But everyone saw his response.
“The NFL is not a fairytale,” Hoecht said. “It’s one of those things where you can’t control all the outcomes. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows. You got to deal with a lot of stuff that comes up. … It’s one of those things where the more consistent you can stay, the better off you’re going to be.”
Seven months and three days from the tear — you better believe Hoecht knows his injury timeline to the day — Hoecht is once again doing football things. It started Thursday and Friday last week and continued Tuesday in Buffalo’s first practice of mandatory minicamp.
Hoecht spent the voluntary portion of minicamp working with trainers during practices, but he was cleared for individual drills, with the expectation that he will be a full participant when training camp opens in July.
Hoecht has been working closely with new assistant strength coach A.J. Blue, who has helped him understand the timeline and intricacies of the rehabilitation process. Some of it was learning to take steps without thinking about it.
According to NYU Langone Health, it takes 10 to 16 weeks for someone to walk unassisted after a torn Achilles. The next step for Hoecht is making football movements like turning the corner on an offensive tackle in a way his brain recognizes his feet are automatically going where he wants them.
“I’ve been trying to be a sponge as much as I can to learn about it,” Hoecht said. “… I guarantee you almost every program is the same and you end up just holding isos forever. The tendons really like them, which I’ve started doing on other tendons and other muscles, just because if it works for an Achilles, it will work for a shoulder and a knee and all the other ones.”
Right now the Bills are limiting Hoecht from moving too fast. The chances of rupturing his Achilles a second time is around 2% and the most vulnerable time for a re-tear is between 8 to 16 weeks, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The body leaves dense scar tissue at the tear site, while rehab strengthens the tendon and re-trains calf and ankle muscles that correct imbalances that helped cause the initial tear. Those who go through the rehab process are also more likely to be diligent about stretching and avoiding triggers.
But moving too fast through the rehab process could affect other body parts that are unknowingly overcompensating for the first injury.
“You’ve got to try to slow him down, to be honest with you,” Bills head coach Joe Brady said. “… If it was up to him, he’d play a game right now. His greatest strength is his weakness right now because you can almost do too much.”
Players rushing back from injuries is common, especially for someone in Hoecht’s position. The Bills have a new defensive scheme and they added three outside linebackers — Bradley Chubb, Mike Danna and T.J. Parker — who will cut into or challenge Hoecht for playing time.
But Hoecht is too invested to rush. Rather than just being told how to rehab, he wants to know why and how it affects his body. So he listens to the Bills training staff and Dr. Tom Gormely, Jacksonville-based physical therapist who has explained how and why his Achilles reacts to different movements and workouts.
“I’m not playing this game of, ‘Do I trust (my Achilles)? Do I not? How much should I run?’” Hoecht said. “When they tell me to go, I’m going to go 100%. And when they say, ‘All right, you’ve hit your numbers for the day,’ shut it down. It’s trusting them the same way it’s trusting my Achilles.”
NOTES: The Bills did not have any absences at practice, but WR Skyler Bell, S Cole Bishop, RT Spencer Brown, WR Tyrell Shavers and LB Dorian Williams did not practice due to injuries. … WR Joshua Palmer practiced in full after working with trainers during voluntary minicamps. … The Bills held tryouts for former Oklahoma OT Derek Simmons and WR Deven Thompkins, who has played 36 games for the Buccaneers, Panthers and Falcons since 2022 and has averaged 8.8 yards per punt return and 22.3 yards per kick return.