Aside from the news that Andre Johnson will miss OTAs as he recovers from arthroscopic left knee surgery, defensive tackle Travis Johnson was the biggest story of the day on the injury front.
Johnson, who missed mini-camp practices from May 9-11 due to his wedding, was back at practice Monday and in uniform but did not participate. He is out with what head coach Gary Kubiak called "inflammation in the pelvic area."
"I'm concerned; he's missed a lot of time," Kubiak said when asked about Johnson missing another workout. "...He's way behind the team from a physical standpoint. Nothing he can do; (the Texans' training staff has) had him resting... (The injury) is kind of been something's that bothered him before and then it crept up again back in February, early March, and we've tried a few different scenarios. He had an injection the other day that we're waiting to see how he recovers from. He has felt better. He ran Friday, he ran today, so we'll see."
Running back Ahman Green continued to look as good as new, and Kubiak praised the work the veteran has put in this offseason. Green wore a pad over his left knee, but said **it's just a precaution** to prevent a recurrence of the fluke-like injury that sidelined him last season.
Tackle Charles Spencer is on a schedule similar to his mini-camp routine, during which he participated in one-on-one and positional drills but not the team portion of activities in which he could have risked being tangled up in a pile near a ball carrier.
"He'll do a little bit," Kubiak said of the plan with Spencer for OTAs. "At some point here, we're fixing to turn him loose. I'll let y'all know when that is, and then we'll see how he responds."
The only player absent on the day was cornerback Fred Bennett, who was excused with an illness. Kubiak hopes for Bennett to return to the field on Tuesday.
- Nick Scurfield
