WESTFIELD, Ind. – For the first two weeks of training camp, Zaire Franklin was on his own. While the rest of the Colts defense was warming up together, he'd be on the other field doing his own rehab exercises. When his teammates gathered on the field for individual drills and team periods, he'd be standing on the sidelines, watching.

He was surrounded by players, coaches and trainers all the time; he wasn't literally alone. But there's a big difference between running alongside your teammates to celebrate on the football field and waiting to give them a high five when they reach the sideline.

On Saturday, Franklin finally got his first taste of training camp, suiting up for the first time since his offseason ankle surgery that sidelined the linebacker through all of OTAs and minicamp.

It will still be a gradual return for Franklin, however, with the first step in the process being participation in individual drills – which he did on Saturday. On Sunday, he expanded that to limited participation in seven-on-seven drills as well.

"I can't lie, I almost shed a tear yesterday when I set foot on the field," Franklin said Sunday. "I ain't missed that much time before....it felt great to be back out there with the guys."

Franklin's surgery was the first of his eight-year NFL career but he already knew from seeing teammates go through surgeries and rehab what he should and shouldn't do, and was able to approach the entire process with the right mindset.

"It's so easy to get disconnected from the team, and it's kind of like you're really by yourself – that's when a lot of that mental stuff starts to weigh on you," Franklin explained. "I just was very intentional, just making sure I was still locked in with the guys, whether that was at practice, meetings in the building, just trying to be very much present. And then honestly, when it came to my rehab, it was a process. I didn't take anything personal, I gave myself grace. I committed to my journey and my plan and trusted the trainers that I had around me."

As the oldest and most experienced linebacker on the Colts roster, Franklin had already built solid connections with teammates he'd played with before. But he made a point to quickly form a bond with linebacker Joe Bachie, who played under Anarumo in Cincinnati and joined the Colts as a free agent in the offseason.

"Joe's a cool dude, I like Joe," Franklin said. "Obviously, he played with Lou for four years so as we continue to learn and grow through the playbook, there's lessons that he went through or watched guys go through that he's able to help us and bridge us through. He's been extremely helpful."

"We've got a great, great culture in our linebacker room," Franklin added. "Everybody's helping each other and it's raising the level of play of every single person in that room."

And it was seeing his teammates out there on the field competing together that was the most difficult part of the process for Franklin. Not just the linebackers, but the cornerbacks, safeties and defensive linemen as well, as they all found success in implementing Anarumo's defense.

"That was probably the hardest part of the last two weeks," Franklin said. "I was itching to get out there. Not only just to be out there competing with my guys, but you know, I just see my place in this thing."

Moving forward, as the Colts prepare for their joint practice and first preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens, Franklin said he's still focused on the day-to-day

"I'm in my process," he said. "I'm just glad to be out there with my brothers."