THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The 2021 season didn't end exactly how Jordan Fuller envisioned.
The Rams safety was a key part of a defense finding its groove in December, when he suddenly suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the finale and was forced to watch Super Bowl LVI from the sideline.
Fuller is determined to get back to full strength. Here's a look behind that grind this offseason to get there.
The Rams were taking on the 49ers in Week 18. With just under 13 minutes left in the game, the 49ers run a run play, and Fuller is trying to chase down the running back. As Fuller tries to push off of his right leg, a 49ers player steps on it.
"Pins my heel to the ground basically with his foot," Fuller said in Behind the Grind.
Initially, Fuller thought he had twisted his ankle. But as he tried to put weight on it, he said he felt it "shift."
Immediately, he feared the worst.
"I was like, 'Oh no,'" Fuller said in Behind the Grind. "I was scared it was my Achilles, or whatever. And usually, I'm the type to just either run off the field or limp off the field. I never want to lay down on the ground."
Fuller had to be helped off the field by two members of the Rams' training staff.
The next day, Rams head coach Sean McVay announces Fuller's ankle injury will require surgery and sideline him for the remainder of what will be their Super Bowl-winning LVI season.
Fuller in May admitted he was in a dark place as he watched his team win the Super Bowl without him.
While he was able to take in that game in person, he was forced to watch the celebrations following each of the previous three playoff games from home because of how unsafe it was for him on the sidelines – if someone made a tackle near there, for example, he wouldn't have been able to get out of the way quickly enough. Because it was his right ankle that got injured, he was also unable to drive to the stadium.
"Watching those games, watching the NFC Championship from home, and seeing everybody celebrate, I think that was one of the hardest parts of the rehab process, for sure," Fuller said in Behind the Grind. "Like, I was so happy for everybody, but at the same time, I was kind of getting emotional because at times, you feel forgotten about. You put so much into something, and then to see your teammates celebrating, which you're happy for, but you're just wonder if they think about you in that moment, too."
He was reminded and reassured via simple yet powerful, encouraging words from teammate and fellow safety Nick Scott.
"When we won the Super Bowl, I went up to Nick, I was like, 'You did it bro! You did it!' because I was so excited for him," Fuller said. "He was like, 'Nah, man, we did it. We did it.'
"That's something I won't forget."
That moment helped more than Scott or any of Fuller's Rams teammates may have realized, "because I was having a tough time, for sure," he said.
Three months later, when he was rehabbing on May 17, Fuller said new Rams linebacker Bobby Wagner gave him "some much-needed motivation."
In Behind the Grind, Fuller said he has a "love-hate" relationship with the injury.
"I hate the fact that I'm not able to do everything right now with my teammates. I hate the fact that I'm not able to train the same way that I usually do in the offseasons," Fuller said in the episode. "I also love it at the same time, because I feel like I'm the most mentally strong that I've ever been."
When he sometimes needs to take his mind off things, Fuller turns to playing video games with friends from back home.
"We get on the game, we have so many different laughs," he said. "Pretty good, too, honestly. We've gotten pretty good. We've got a good rapport on the game. It's basically my team away from the football team, really."
Fuller's rehab process during the offseason program looked something like this: Waking up at 6 a.m. and going to the facility, getting some rehab done, then going to meetings. More rehab, workout, then a little more rehab.
Tedious as it sounds, it was working, based on the encouraging update Fuller provided while speaking to reporters during a video conference in mid-May.
"Right now, I'm really just staying true to the process," he said. "I'm feeling good, progressing well, on track with everything, so that's a positive. So yeah, just keeping up with that. Mentally, I've been staying on top of things, too. Keeping my circle tight, they support me really well. Everybody here with the Rams supports me really well, too. They keep me engaged, even throughout the playoffs and all that, so they helped me a lot, for sure."
Even just being on the sideline for the Super Bowl for Fuller was special. And now?
"I'm definitely motivated to get back there," he said on May 17.
