Sam Cosmi faces a long road to recovery from the season-ending ACL tear he suffered against the Detroit Lions. He isn't wasting any time starting that process.
"There's nothing more than I want to be on the field with my brothers and being able to battle," Cosmi said during the team's locker room cleanout day.
Cosmi's injury in the second quarter of the divisional round matchup with the Lions was the only stain on an unforgettable night for the Commanders, who locked up a 45-31 win over the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Cosmi, a mainstay of the team's offensive line, went on to miss the NFC Championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles. There's no timetable on when he'll return, but given the general recovery window for ACL injuries, it's almost guaranteed he'll be out for some of the 2025 season.
Cosmi would like to miss as little time as possible. That's why he plans to attack his rehab throughout the offseason. He had surgery on Jan. 28 and plans to be around the team's facility as he begins to recover.
"I'm gonna do everything in my power to get my body in peak physical shape and be able to be ready for next year," Cosmi said.
The Commanders would like that to be the case, too. Cosmi proved to the new regime, led by general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn, that he could be relied upon. He bought into the team's new culture and became a leader for the offense and his position group by embodying the competitiveness and work ethic Peters and Quinn valued in players. He also produced on the field by allowing just one sack on 700 pass-blocking snaps.
That was the kind of campaign the Commanders had in mind when they signed him to a contact extension last September.
"This guy is a Commander through and through," Quinn said at the time. "He's tough. He plays square. He's strong. We're really fortunate that he'll be an anchor inside for years to come."
Cosmi's loss created a massive hole in the Commanders' offensive line as they prepared to take on the Eagles and their talented defensive front without him. The team wasn't focused on that problem; instead, they were more concerned about his health and making sure he knew they would be there to help him through his recovery.
"He's been a significant part of what we're doing, especially in the interior," Quinn said Jan. 19. "So yeah, that's a big deal, the ballplayer and the man."
Cosmi has never gone through an ACL injury himself, but his wife and other people in his life have experienced it and provided guidance for him. It will be the longest time in Cosmi's career that he won't be able to suit up. Although he missed 11 combined games in 2021 and 2022, he has been a constant for Washington's offensive line over the last two seasons as one of the few players who appeared and started in the previous 34 contests.
But Cosmi is not shying away from the challenge of getting healthy again. He's been through difficult times before and overcome them, and he's confident he'll do so again.
"I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to go through trials and tribulations," Cosmi said. "Everybody does, and I've been able to come out of those on top. So, this is no different."
While he doesn't know when his return will be, he wants to make sure he can return to his old self when it happens.
"I'm just gonna attack this like I have everything in my whole entire career, my life," Cosmi said. "I said this whenever I got the extension: how much work you put in is what you're going to get out. That's what I'm going to do with this, and hopefully, I'll be back on the football field way sooner than expected."
