Raiders' Brandon Parker on His Year of Recovery

Las Vegas Raiders offensive lineman Brandon Parker missed his entire fifth season after going down due to a triceps injury in last year's Hall of Fame Game.

Fast forward a full year, and Parker is gearing up to play his first season in two years.

While the 27-year-old offensive tackle had a year stripped from his young career, Parker made the most of it.

"It's always frustrating whenever your season is cut short," Parker said when he addressed the media Wednesday. "Myself and many others who had kind of season ending injuries, it's never easy. But the good news is I took the time to kind of work on a lot of my weaknesses and just transform into the best player I can be. Because I pretty much had a year of offseason, so it kind of helped me."

Though Parker missed all 17 games, he did feel he could have returned sooner.

"They told me four to six months initially," Parker said. "So, that would have been about December. And about mid-December, I could have come back if I wasn't on IR for the season. I felt like I had a punch, I was good enough to play. But I'm glad they didn't push me out, because I had more time to get all of my strength back. So, as football players we'll push through anything, so I would've have pushed through it, but I wouldn't have had the full strength that I needed. But I could've done it."

Parker was still a participant in off-the-field activities.

"Just watched lot of film, and then being around my teammates," Parker said. "I would still go to the O-Line dinners. I would still be in the team meetings trying to lift them up, trying to just be around them, because I know they're going through the grit of the season so I'm trying not to be oblivious to what they're going through, but at the same time just try to rally the guys up and still find ways to be a leader without having to be in the mix with them."

The Silver and Black open the preseason by hosting the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Aug. 13, at 4 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. PDT.

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