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ASHBURN Dick Butkus Jersey , Va. (AP) — The first surgery of Trent Williams‘ life put more fear into him than any pass-rusher on a football field.

“I was scared,” Williams said. “I was terrified.”

Not much terrifies the Washington Redskins‘ star left tackle, though this was different. Now eight months removed from major surgery on his right knee, Williams is ready to get back on the field when the Redskins open the season at the Arizona Cardinals and already looks like the player he was before the debilitating injury.

“He looks amazing,” coach Jay Gruden said this week. “We just have to make sure we take care of him, get him right. Physically, I think for the game, he’s in great football shape. He’s always been in great football shape but I expect him to be Trent Williams, the best left tackle in football.”

Williams has gotten that kind of praise from Tampa Bay defensive end Gerald McCoy and others around the NFL and earned respect for playing through countless injuries. His six games missed last season were more than he sat out for injury combined over the previous five seasons.

This knee injury was so bad it forced Williams not to play and affected his mindset.

“It was difficult to have to — I’m not going say give up — but basically have to go ahead and I guess bow down out of the battle,” Williams said. “I just more so felt defeated because I had tried so hard to continue to work through.”

Williams was so determined to gut it out he played games even when Washington was eliminated from playoff contention. The sight of his name on the injured reserve list for the first time in his career was the wakeup call he needed to finally go under the knife.

That happened Dec. 29: a medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction by way of a tibial tubercle osteotomy, which involved breaking his tibia bone and realigning it with the knee joint. Every doctor he saw told him he was underestimating how major it was.

“I was Cody Parkey Jersey ,” Williams said. “Maybe I was in denial. I did underestimate how intense it was and how hard the recovery was going to be.”

Eight weeks of being unable to get around without crutches or assistance followed. Williams spent months building the strength back up on both legs, got eased back into practices and still had a hurdle to overcome that’s common to players coming off knee surgery.

“Trent came in and he did drills with us in OTAs and to me he looked quicker and faster than he had been before,” running back Chris Thompson said. “But then when you get out here and bodies start flying, people start coming towards you full-speed, mentally you’re just like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I’m ready yet.'”

Williams took limited snaps in the preseason as the team preferred a cautious approach to getting Williams to Week 1. As he built up his workload through training camp, teammates saw glimpses of Williams at his best.

“He hasn’t lost his step,” right tackle Morgan Moses said. “The guy obviously is an incredible athlete. He runs like a deer. He runs like a guy that’s supposed to be playing slot receiver.”

Williams is still dealing with scar tissue and managing internal expectations. But now he can put his weight on his right leg without the burden of worrying about what’ll happen next.

“It’s a relief because at the time I was playing and putting other ligaments and other parts of my body at major risk and I knew the risk I was taking prior to doing so,” he said. “When you’re competing and you’re a competitor, all that stuff kind of falls to the wayside. You throw caution out the window. But it feels great knowing I’m not bowing out anymore.”

Now that the Atlanta Falcons have put him back full-time at defensive end http://www.buffalobillsteamonline.com/ryan-groy-jersey , he's looking to regain the form that made him the NFL sacks leader two years ago.

Beasley, though, isn't making big promises in the second week of training camp. As much as he wants to get back to the top, he says the best approach is to stay humble, fill his role and let everything else work itself out.

"I know the guys have a lot of faith in me and the coaches do also, so we're just going to go out there and give our best effort and do what we can to get where we want to be," Beasley said Wednesday.

The Falcons had solid results last season under first-year defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel. They improved 17 spots to a No. 9 ranking in points allowed. They were among the top 10 in total yards, yards rushing, red zone percentage and scoring.

But Beasley was a small part of the story. He had just five sacks, 10 1/25 fewer than during his first season under coach Dan Quinn, and he wanted to produce more.

Moving to outside linebacker on 30 percent of the snaps didn't help. Beasley dropped some weight to play the new position and he ran so much in coverage and in defending the run that his energy level sometimes lagged when he lined up at end. He didn't have the same explosiveness coming out of his stance and beating blocks.

"He was always a nickel defensive end http://www.greenbaypackersteamonline.com/ty-montgomery-jersey ," Quinn said. "We played almost 70 percent of our snaps in nickel, but in the base one, due to injuries, that's why we moved him there. He was there a little bit by necessity, and sometimes that's the best thing to do. For us it was in this case."

Not anymore. Quinn wants to unleash Beasley exclusively at end with Takk McKinley starting on the opposite side after a promising rookie season.

"That's where he's best," Quinn said, "playing defensive end all the time."

Beasley took some pointers Wednesday from former Falcons ends Patrick Kerney and Chuck Smith, who combined for 141 NFL sacks. He got two different perspectives in technique. Kerney played long and rangy. Smith was more compact. Both gave Beasley a few ideas about timing, footwork and hand placement.

Beasley gets daily suggestions from his position coach Bryant Young, the former San Francisco star tackle who finished a 14-year career in 2007 with 89 1/2 sacks.

Young believes Beasley's time at linebacker will benefit him long-term because it's made him better against the run.

"He's a very strong individual, plays with good technique Thurman Thomas Jersey , and I think a lot of times he doesn't get credit for his run game, which is really important in this league as well," Young said. "The big, pretty numbers are in the sacks, and we understand that, but it's also important that you stop the run."

Beasley is eager to show what he can do. He played end exclusively throughout his career before last year.

"As a linebacker you normally drop into coverage and you dial up blitzes every now and then, but as a defensive end you're pretty much a straight-ahead guy," Beasley said. "Just get after the quarterback."