Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson was on the field Tuesday as minicamp got underway, but the knee brace he’d been wearing on his right leg in previous offseason practices open to the media was not.
There was no announcement that Watson was ditching the brace and coach Bill O’Brien professed surprise about the development when he spoke to the media later in the day.
“I don’t know. I didn’t notice that,” O’Brien said, via the team. “I’m sure that was cleared with the proper people. I’m not the brace doctor or the brace coach.”
Watson tore his ACL last November and has been doing 7-on-7 work at OTAs as he pushes to return to the lineup for the start of the regular season. Running back Lamar Miller seems to think that’s a likely outcome as he said, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com, that he doesn’t “really notice any issues with his knee, other than his coaches holding him back from certain drills.”
That will likely remain the case as minicamp wraps up, but it sounds like it won’t be a surprise if Watson’s doing just about everything come the start of training camp.