Dallas Cowboys All-Pro center Travis Frederick could be on his way toward a return after missing the entire 2018 campaign following a diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Speaking Tuesday night, Frederick expressed hope that he'll be with Cowboys teammates when offseason workouts ramp up in the spring, saying he's "90 or 95 percent" healthy again.
"I don't know if it's going to be 100 percent full go. I don't know if it's going to be some. We're just going to kind of feel it out sort of as we've felt this whole process," he said, via the team's official website.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is a disorder in which the immune system attacks the body's nervous system in response to illness. With the condition, there is no set timetable with recovery.
Frederick, however, noted that he's been in the weight room progressing toward a possible return.
"I'm to the point now where I can do almost everything that I've been able to do previously," he said. "Now, am I running at my top speed? I don't know because I haven't hit that number. Am I jumping as high as I have? I'm not sure yet. But once we get back in March and April, we'll get a good feeling on where things are.
"It's certainly been a long road and since the season's been over I've continued to progress and things are moving in the right direction. I feel good about this spring."
Expect Dallas to take it one small step at a time with Frederick's potential return in hopes of stiff-arming any potential setback. At this point, however, Frederick sounds optimistic he'll be back on the field in 2019.
"Honestly we're not going to know until we get out there and start doing some stuff, where exactly I'm at," Frederick said. "There isn't a great way to empirically say, 'This is the point that you're going to be ready to come back.' We can do all the nerve tests we want, but without a baseline, we don't (know) where normal is. Everybody's normal is a little bit different. So now it's just about working in the weight room, trying to continue to increase my strength and work with the team in the offseason as far as conditioning-wise and get myself ready to try and meet at the same point as the rest of the team come March and April."
Frederick's potential return would be as massive an addition as any Jerry Jones & Co. could concoct in free agency and the draft this offseason.
