Cincinnati Bengals tight end Erick All Jr. found an unexpected boost in confidence during a June vacation in Greece.
While preparing to cross a street in Athens, the Fairfield High School graduate was struck by a three-wheeled truck that swerved to avoid another person. The impact threw him and left scrapes on his face, but All rose immediately without pain.
“I got up and was like, ‘I’m [expletive] ready,’” All told reporters, via Mike Petraglia. “It didn’t hurt me at all. It just kind of gave me the confidence like, ‘Oh, I’m back.’”
He described the collision as the first time he had ever been pancaked, noting he is usually the one delivering the hit.
“That’s as big of a hit that anybody could give. If I can take that, I’m good,” he said.
The experience carried special weight for All, who has endured multiple ACL tears. After injuring the knee in college, he re-tore it midway through his 2024 rookie season and missed the rest of that year plus all of 2025. Now fully cleared and participating in training camp, All views the truck incident as mental proof that his body can handle contact again.
Bengals coaches have urged him to temper his intensity as he reintegrates, but All remains eager to play at full speed. The scare on a foreign sidewalk, he insists, did a lot of good things for his mindset heading into the 2026 season.
