ALBANY — Throughout the spring, Chris Canty expressed extreme optimism the knee surgery he underwent following the Super Bowl would not keep him out of training camp.
The Giants yesterday broke camp and yet Canty never participated and remains on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
Canty said his knee is better right now than it was in the last few months of last season, when he played through the knee issues.
At this point, though, he sounds unsure if he’ll be ready to play by the Sept. 5 regular-season opener against his former team, the Cowboys.
“It’s tough to say,’’ Canty said. “It’s just a matter of making sure we can put together enough good days and making sure I’m feeling good and in the kind of shape I would need to be in to compete at a high level.
“I’m not going to rule it out, it’s still a possibility. Obviously I would definitely look forward to being out there Opening Day with my guys being able to hunt. We’ll see.’’
Despite the sudden rash of injuries at defensive tackle, Canty is not going to rush himself onto the field. There was plenty of depth at defensive tackle but that depth was severely weakened with the news veteran Shaun Rogers is lost for the season with a blood clot in his leg, Martin Parker has a herniated disc that needs surgery to end his season and Marvin Austin was sent back to New York for tests on his back.
“Obviously I would like to be out there with my teammates, and when Coach [Tom] Coughlin feels that’s appropriate and the medical staff feels that’s appropriate that’s what we’ll do,’’ Canty said.
“I’m definitely getting better, just the level of activity, what we’re able to do, my general feelings about it, not dealing with pain or anything like that. It’s continuing to progress.
“We knew this was going to be a long process, obviously I didn’t think it would be this long but I think we’re being smart about it, we’re taking the right approach. I can run now, I can go through the bags, the agility drills, things like that. Doing weight work on the legs, pretty much any and everything I would need to do to play at a high level, it’s just a matter of putting together good days and being able to continue to do that on a daily basis.’’