CHARLOTTE — D.J. Wonnum is probably another week or so away from returning to game action.

But after what he's been through in the last 10 months, a little bit of a wait isn't so bad.

Wonnum walked reporters through an offseason that's generally been described as involving "complications," which more specifically involved three surgeries following his Christmas Eve injury, which cut short his final season with the Vikings. Then came his body rejecting the internal stitches used to repair his quadriceps tear, a MRSA infection, and weeks of taking blood thinners after he developed blood clots as a result of the intravenous antibiotics he was taking to fight the infection.

Football injuries are one thing. His offseason went to a different level and involved medical issues that push closer to the life-changing or life-threatening variety.

"It just makes me appreciate, you know what I'm saying, all the little things like waking up and being able to stand on two feet and walk," Wonnum said Thursday. "Like it's literally little things that we take for granted every day, like being able to go get in the shower without having to put a whole cap over your leg and over your arm that covers your arm up.

"So it's really just appreciation for life. I know a lot of people go through way worse things than what I've been through. So I don't take nothing for granted."

During his long rehab, Wonnum spent plenty of time in the hospital and used the time to get to know some of the patients he was seeing on a regular basis. Sitting in the infusion center getting IV antibiotics, he'd often be next to cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. And if he wasn't centered by his own diagnosis, seeing others going through bigger challenges made perspective easier for him to find.

"I got close with a lot of people," Wonnum said. "I went to Atrium every day, and I kind of got close with a lot of the patients there, and my situation compared to theirs, it was nothing. They were going through way worse things than I was going through. So, it kept me grounded.

"It could be way worse than what was going on with me."

The good news was the medical situation was under control, and Wonnum is now well. From a practical application to his job, it made his arrival much later than he or they anticipated. After signing in March, the recovery from the original surgery was going to have him pushing to be ready for the start of camp. But the infection and subsequent blood clots kept him from being able to practice or even work out normally (you obviously can't play tackle football when you're on blood thinners). And with a PICC line in your arm, sweat can be dangerous, so he'd try to sneak in things resembling workouts and then duck into a nearby freezer in the stadium when he began to feel himself getting warm. It's been a complicated recovery, to say the least.

If there was a silver lining in any of this, he developed a close bond with a number of people, in addition to his fellow patients. The Panthers' athletic training staff became like family, and sometimes mom and dad have to say no.

"Obviously, I'm asking them every day. Can I practice today? Can I go? Am I ready to go?" Wonnum said. "They're like, no, but you're getting really close; we'll get you out there soon."

Fellow outside linebacker Amaré Barno (recovering from his own torn ACL last New Year's Eve) was also alongside him through all those long hours of rehab.

"We push each other really hard," Barno said. "He was attacking it, me too; you push yourself to the end."

Being a constant presence through the offseason, Wonnum had plenty of time to pour into his new job and role in ways other than practicing and playing.

"DJ is a really, really good football player, and we obviously brought him in here because we had a lot of love for what he accomplished in Minnesota," defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero said. "In terms of the human, we haven't seen him on the field, obviously, but this whole time we've been here, he's been here. I mean, he is meticulous in terms of his study and his preparation, and he knows our defense. And obviously, there's going to be an aspect of that, of getting back on his feet and doing it, live and in color.

"But, I mean, he's great in the meeting room. He obviously, he works his butt off in terms of the rehab and all of that stuff, he's locked and he's engaged, he's focused. I have a lot of respect and high praise for this guy. The way he's handled everything, he's kept working. Whenever he's available, he's going to help us."

The idea was to pair him with his fellow University of South Carolina product, Jadeveon Clowney, at the edges of this defense. They had 17.5 sacks between them last season, and the Panthers have just 7.0 as a team at the moment. But Wonnum was signed two weeks before Clowney arrived, so there were clearly things they were attracted to (and not just the touchdown he scored against the Panthers last year).

"A lot of things," Evero said with a laugh when asked if there were particular qualities Wonnum had that piqued their interest. "The production was very high, in the run game and in the pass game. He looks the way you want an outside 'backer to look. He's 260-plus pounds, long arms, has the athletic ability to drop, has the athletic ability to rush. He's the build that you want for the position.

"And then, he's very instinctual. He's got a great feel for the game. And it makes sense now being around him just because you see the way he works at it. He's a pro."

Of course, part of being a pro is learning patience, and that's been the hard part for Wonnum.

He knew the original timeline for his quad surgery, but with every setback, the infection, and the blood clots, he had to reset, recalibrate, and wait.

He admitted there were times he felt like he was "letting the team down" during the process, but knowing all the complications were beyond his control, he just had to let his body heal.

"It's been a lot; like you take 10 steps forward and 100 steps back within my journey," he said. "It was very hard. But I learned, well, I already kind of knew that I was resilient. Any task or anything that's put ahead of me or meant to stop me, I'm going to overcome it. But I know what type of person I am. I'm a hard worker, I'm a dog, and whatever it is, I'm going to grind through."

There's still a bit of grinding to do. He didn't go through a full practice Thursday — meaning he's had exactly one in the calendar year 2024 — but joked that he feels 100 percent healthy, and in his head, he has been for months. But he also knows this isn't like a torn ACL or a broken bone. This was much more serious for reasons beyond his ability to play football.

And that's why, after detailing everything that went into it, he was able to smile Thursday, knowing how close he is.

"Ready to get back out there," Wonnum said, knowing how precious every step can be.