Falcons’ Drake London tracking to return to play after knee injury

He said he has wanted to get back out to the practice field “as quick as possible, but everything is going smoothly. Been making good strides and leaps. That’s all I can ask for.”

London’s comments followed coach Raheem Morris’ declaration Monday that he was “very hopeful” London would play Sunday.

London was on pace to have the best season of his four-year career when he injured his knee in the team’s home loss to the Carolina Panthers. In nine games, he has 60 receptions for 810 yards and six touchdowns. The game against the Panthers was his fifth in the past six in which he had caught at least 100 yards worth of passes.

In the portion of Thursday’s practice that media could observe, London caught passes out of routes and appeared to move well. The team’s injury report Thursday said he was a limited participant for the second day in a row. The official prognosis for Sunday will be made Friday.

Returning to practice this week “has been good,” London said. “I think it’s just been fun to be out on the grass again and playing.”

With only three games remaining in the season and the team out of playoff contention, choosing to rest his body and not play for the rest of the season would have been an understandable decision. Further, London revealed he has had other physical ailments besides the knee injury.

“I just want to play football at the end of the day,” he said. With the playoffs out of the picture, “I’m probably not going to be able to play football until next year, deep into next year. I want to play as much football as I possibly can until it’s done for this year.”