HOUSTON -- Texans rookie linebacker Jadeveon Clowney said he hopes to return in a few weeks from the knee injury that has sidelined him since the season opener.
Clowney, who spoke Tuesday after an event at a middle school in Houston, said that he had begun the running portion of his rehabilitation and that it's going well.
"Rehab's coming along good," Clowney said. "I'm getting healthy. My leg's feeling a lot better -- just taking it one day at a time."
Clowney, the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft, suffered a torn meniscus in the Texans' season-opening victory against Washington and was expected to miss four to six weeks.
"It's very hard (to be patient)," he said Tuesday, speaking for the first time since suffering the injury. "I keep telling guys 'I think I'm ready, I think I'm ready.' They're like man, you just got injured. They're just like, 'Take it one day at a time ... you have a long career ahead of you also. Don't rush to come back one time and get hurt again.'
"I want my leg to be very healthy before I come back out there."
Clowney quickly showed his speed and power during Houston's preseason games as he learned to play outside linebacker, a position the college defensive end never played before. His progress was slowed by a sports hernia, which he had surgery on in June.
Then in August, during a joint practice with the Denver Broncos, Clowney suffered a concussion that kept him out two weeks. He was healthy in time for the season opener.
Clowney suffered his latest injury when he jumped in the air and landed awkwardly on his leg. The non-contact nature of the injury made it even harder to take.
"I was very upset," he said. "I told these guys, I'd rather get hit in my knee than just a non-contact injury. ... Things happen, it's just how you respond to them and come back on the field."