When a player suffers a season ending injury, that player often disappears almost completely from the public perception. Tight end John Phillips is such a player.

After showing some promise towards the end of the 2009 season, he had an outstanding training camp last year, before tearing his ACL in the Hall of Fame game during the preseason. Many observers at the time had him in a head-to-head race with Martellus Bennet for the No.2 tight end spot.

After that, it became kind of quiet, as Phillips had surgery to repair his ACL and started the long process of rehabbing. Now he's back and tells WDBJ7.com in a video interview that the rehab on his knee "has been phenomenal."

In the video of the full interview on the right, Phillips talks about his his workout regimen, the plight of the 2011 rookies, his optimism about the offense, his work ethic, the recent OTA's, the lockout, competition and more.

If Phillips is fully healed, this should make for one of the most competitive roster battles in training camp as Martellus Bennett, John Phillips, Chris Gronkowski, Shaun Chapas and perhaps an UDFA or two battle it out for a role in the Cowboys offense.

Phillips was drafted in the sixth round of the 2009 draft out of Virginia, where he was coached for two years (2005-06) by Cowboys tight ends coach and passing game coordinator John Garrett.