Skins cautiously optimistic about Rogers

The Redskins’ cornerback participated in his first full practice of training camp, raising hopes that he could indeed return by the Sept. 4 season opener. Just as he consistently said he would.

However, Washington coach Jim Zorn said before camp that Rogers would not play until late September or early October. But the organization’s stance might have softened given Rogers’ relatively quick recovery from reconstructive knee surgery last November. He tore two ligaments in his right knee in an Oct. 28 loss to New England.

“My deal is, let’s have him ready for the regular season,” Redskins secondary coach Jerry Gray said. “If he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go. ... You don’t come back with those instincts or explosion unless you work [hard] . If you say he’s ahead of schedule, I would say that. But you can’t get too anxious and throw him out in the fire and say, ‘Hey, let him go full-blown.’ We’ve still gotta protect him.”

Rogers has worked all of training camp, but yesterday was the first time he took snaps in 11-on-11 drills.

“He’s in the mix, but I wouldn’t want to see him in a game right now,” Zorn said. “What I am hoping is that we can start stringing some things together and being smart about how he feels and testing his knee.”

Rogers rehabbed diligently in the offseason, faithfully working out four days a week, nearly three hours each time. Now the key is how his knee responds in the morning. That more than anything will steer the trainers closer to Rogers’ target date.

“They’re leaning towards it, but it’s training camp so you always want to be cautious,” Rogers said. “History shows that guys don’t come back this fast, but I’m a fast healer.”

NOTE » Reserve linebacker H.B. Blades underwent arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn meniscus in his knee on Tuesday and will miss four weeks.