Cowboys cornerback Morris Claiborne. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)
IRVING — Cornerback Morris Claiborne, the sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft, made a rare appearance in the locker room Thursday at Valley Ranch just after the Cowboys wrapped up their final practice of the bye week.
He was still using a crutch to get around and was not bending his left knee.
Claiborne said he has a long road ahead in his comeback from a torn patellar tendon suffered Sept. 28 against New Orleans. He had season-ending surgery Sept. 30, and the Cowboys placed him on injured reserve Oct. 4. He said he hopes to get off the crutch in a few weeks.
“At this point, we’re working on getting it to bend and getting the strength back in,” Claiborne said, his first comments since the surgery. “I haven’t really asked anyone about that injury because not too many people has had the injury but [practice squad running back] Ryan [Williams]. He’s had it and came back from it and is doing well. I’ve talked to him about it, and he’s pretty much told me it’s going to be a rough time.
“It’s just one of those things you want to come back from. You want to prove everybody wrong. You just want to do it but mainly for yourself.”
Claiborne said he’s not worried about when he can resume football activities or even run. He’s focused on walking first.
“I’m at this point where I have to do this rehab and mainly I want to walk again, so that’s my main focus is not about football,” Claiborne said. “It’s not about anything. It’s about walking so I can go out and play with my son.”
Claiborne said he feels like he still has a promising career ahead of him.
“I don’t feel like anything has changed,” Claiborne said. “I feel like my career is where it is, I can’t do nothing about where it is, I can’t change it. But it’s where it is right now, and I plan on coming back from this and being even better than I was.”
Claiborne said “it’s very hard” to not be able to play this season and not be a part of the Cowboys’ 7-3 start.
“I find myself on game day, sometimes sitting there in sweats, shaking, I have to get up and find something else to do,” Claiborne said. “But it’s for a reason. I don’t know, but I’m going to wait it out and do whatever I can to get myself back and to come back even stronger.”
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