MENTOR — The crutches that were a constant part of Anthony Walker Jr. over the final three-and-a-half months of last season were gone. They were replaced by something that fit the Browns linebacker much better — a smile.

It was the kind of smile that had been a staple for Walker right up until that September Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers when his world was turned upside by a season-ended torn quad tendon injury.

"Yeah, the hardest part, obviously the mental, not never being hurt before," Walker said Monday while at the Girls High School Flag Football championships hosted by the Browns at Mentor High School. "Sitting out, what, 14 games and then watching another team hold a Super Bowl trophy up. I think that's the hardest part, knowing that that's why you play the game, you know, play the game to be healthy, be out there with your teammates and then obviously compete for a championship, and wasn't able to do that."

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Walker isn't at a point yet where he could play in a game if one was tomorrow. But Walker has time to continue the rehab process he's steadfastly been doing since the injury occurred Sept. 22. He's getting himself ready to go for the regular season, even if he doesn't know the exact timeline to get there.

"I mean, I don't have one right now just because we have till training camp," Walker said, "so I have one in my head and we have one as a staff that we want to hit. But like I said, by training camp we want to be full go and we want to be a 1,000% good to go by the first game."

That process wasn't going to change regardless of where Walker was for the upcoming season, his seventh in the league. The fact that it's in Cleveland is a welcomed turn of events in the last couple of months.

Walker's injury happened in a contract year, meaning he hit the free-agent market with questions. How much the injury, the first substantial one of his career, impacted his offers is hard to say.

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There was a visit with the Washington Commanders, where Walker's best friend, Jacoby Brissett, had signed. However, in the end, Walker found his way back to the place he felt he belonged, which was with the Browns.

"I think, you know, talk about fit as far as everything," said Walker, who made 126 total tackles, including 76 solo, over the last two seasons with the Browns. "Acclimation to the guys; I knew the guys here, I knew the coaches here. Opportunity to play. … The opportunity to play was something that I always relished, and I won't take that for granted. Tried to test a couple things out, but ultimately this was the best fit."

That fit showed as much in Walker's absence as it did while he was on the field. He maintained a presence around the facility even after sustaining the injury. However, it was obvious that him not being on the field drastically impacted the Browns defense in a negative way, especially against the run.

It didn't help that Walker's injury also seemed like the start of a trend of Browns linebackers sustaining season-ending injuries. His replacement at middle linebacker, Jacob Phillips, suffered a torn pectoral muscle in Week 7 at Baltimore, followed by Sione Takitaki's torn ACL in Week 13 at Houston, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah's foot injury in Week 14 at Cincinnati and Jordan Kunsazyk's hand injury prior to the Week 17 game at Washington.

Like Walker, Takitaki and Kunaszyk were also free agents at the end of last season. Like Walker, though, the Browns elected to bring them back, essentially running back the same linebacking corps they had a year ago.

"I think we have a lot of trust in the organization as far as our linebacker coach No. 1, with Jason Tarver being able to get us ready to play," Walker said. "And I think the organization understands that we have a great coach in him. And then we have a lot of guys, we have a lot of unique talent in that room, a lot of speed, a lot of guys that played really good football last year in spurts and a lot of guys that's coming along. And when they hit that maturity point, that really understanding the game, becoming true professionals, they can be really, really elite."

That includes Walker. The experience of losing most of a season to an injury was eye-opening and has, in some ways, altered his own approach.

"For me, I've been just talking about that, not taking the game for granted," Walker said. "I don't think I did, but you never know what you have until it's gone, if that makes sense. So, there are little things that I felt like I probably could have been doing a little bit better and just working on that stuff now. But, at the end of the day, yeah, you relish that opportunity to get back on the field and compete, compete with your teammates, compete against your teammates and also just compete with yourself."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Anthony Walker Jr. glad to be back, both on the field and with Browns