The Washington Commanders’ Alabama Wall has all its bricks again.

Defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis is nearing the end of Washington’s offseason program as he returns from a torn meniscus suffered on the third defensive snap of his NFL career. The Sept. 11 injury caused Mathis to miss the Commanders’ remaining 16 games.

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“I took that hard because I knew it was like, ‘This is the first game, man!’” Mathis told reporters last week. “And when it happened, I knew. I just knew it was bad, so I took it hard, and I cried like a baby.”

Mathis’ return from the injury has reunited him on the field with two other Alabama alumni who are the starting defensive tackles for the Commanders, with Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne both earning Pro Bowl recognition last season.

Allen and Payne joined Washington as first-round draft choices in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Mathis came aboard in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

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“We do preach a lot of the Bama standard still,” Mathis said. “They always remind me where we come from. We come from Bama, so we always preach that. It’s the Bama standard around here, and we just try to bring that to the field. …

“I think it helps, but at the same time, we get to brag about it a little bit because the other guys, they don’t know what it feels like to go to Bama, so I think it do help. Just to bring it to the field and show those guys how we do it there.”

Mathis described the Bama standard as “effort, toughness, physical, just that mentality. You know it. When you see Bama come onto the field, you already know what it is. It’s real like Bama.”

Washington has nearly completed its offseason program. In the final phase, when teams are allowed to conduct 10 days of organized team practice activity (usually referred to as OTAs), the Commanders have one workout remaining. But before that, Washington will hold its mandatory minicamp from Tuesday through Thursday.

“It’s fun,” Mathis said about being back at practice. “It’s been fun from the first day I stepped on the campus. Watching the games, seeing them having fun, knowing you’re not a part of that. That really did hurt a lot, man. Now to be back, to be a part of it, it just feels good to be a part of a good team.”

Mathis said he had no hesitation about trusting his knee after recovering from the injury.

“I know this is my dream,” Mathis said. “This is what I want to do. I don’t even think about it like that. At the end of the day, I know this is what I want to do with my life, this is what I put all my work into. I worked all my life just to get to this point, so I’ll never think like that.”

While missing all but a handful of snaps of his rookie season “definitely was hard,” it also had a benefit, Mathis said.

“It felt like everything was taken from me in one step,” Mathis said, “so I had a lot of time to just think about all the things I could have did better, the things I want to do when I come back. It was a step back, but at the same time it was good because I got to see – it showed you a lot.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.