Cincinnati Bengals tight end Erick All Jr. was searching for confidence, and it suddenly hit him like a truck.
Speaking to reporters at Bengals training camp on Thursday, July 30, All, 25, revealed that a moped, which he described as a “three-wheeled truck,” veered off the street and knocked him to the ground while he was vacationing in Greece last month.
“That was huge for my confidence, you don’t understand, that did a lot of good things for the mental,” he said. “It could have been very bad. That’s what I do. I’m here for the physicality. After not playing for a while, when I got smacked by that thing, and I got up, that is as big of a hit — that’s the first time I ever got pancaked. Ever. I’m like, damn, if I can take that, I’m good. I’m usually the hammer.”
He added, “I got up and was like, ‘I’m f***ing ready. I’m ready.”
All is attempting a return to football after a pair of ACL surgeries forced him to miss the second half of the 2024 season and all of 2025. He played in nine games in 2024, his rookie season, tallying 20 receptions for 158 yards.
All still has a scrape on his face from his accident, The Athletic reported, but added that he feels “100 percent.” Additionally, he has passed his conditioning test and has been fully cleared for training camp, according to the team.
For now, fans can expect All to be the Bengals’ No. 3 tight end, behind Mike Gesicki and Drew Sample.
Quarterback Joe Burrow spoke to the media as well, and expressed his excitement to see All back on the field.
“Obviously, he had a lot going on with his knee, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him,” he said. “He looks fit, fast, explosive. He’ll play a big role for us this year.”
All’s recent run-in wasn’t the first time he faced serious danger. At just five months old, he became trapped in his playpen when his house caught fire. A firefighter climbed through the second-floor window to rescue him, then a medic performed life-saving CPR.
All reunited with the firefighter, Tom Broyles, when he invited him to a University of Michigan home game. (All played for the Wolverines from 2019 to 2022 before transferring to the University of Iowa for his final season.)
“That will probably be the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me. I owe him my life,” All said at the time.
