Hamstring 'Grab' Slows Campbell

Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell has what the team described as a minor hamstring injury.

"He just felt it grab, it didn't pull all the way," Coach Jim Zorn said yesterday after the last of the team's three organized team activities this week at Redskins Park. "He was feeling his hamstrings all along, and I think it's because I have him" bending his knees more to stay at one level while dropping back.

Zorn certainly was not pleased that Campbell was injured, but "just the fact that different things are happening to his body . . . for me it's good," Zorn said. "He'll regroup. He's not a chronic hamstring-puller in my mind. He's going to be fine."

Several Redskins players had soft tissue and muscle injuries last season. Trying to minimize the length of time players were lost to hamstring, quadriceps and groin strains, the team used different stretching regimens late last season. Owner Daniel Snyder and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato brought up the issue of strains while interviewing potential coaching candidates.

Washington's roster is not particularly deep and the team is counting on key aging veterans to overcome injuries and surgeries from 2007. Last season, the rash of pulls and strains struck hard among defensive backs and along the offensive line and hindered starting wide receivers Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El.

Randle El Recovering

After having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, Randle El was optimistic he will be ready to participate in the next series of OTAs. On crutches and with his knee wrapped, Randle El said loose cartilage was removed during a 35-minute procedure Tuesday and there were "no complications so far."

Randle El said he should be able to rejoin the Redskins for the second session of OTAs that begins June 2.

"It's something we want to make sure we take slow. We don't want to rush this thing," Randle El said.

"Certainly, I want to do some stuff in the OTAs in June. I don't want my first rep running full speed on it out there [during training camp]. I suspect I'll be ready to do something" in OTAs.

Randle El could not point to a specific play on which he injured the knee in either last weekend's minicamp or during the voluntary workout program that began in March. "I don't think it was . . . that I fell or that I twisted it a certain way in minicamp," he said. "Friday and Saturday I [practiced], played pretty well, and didn't have any problems.

"Saturday night it kind of [became swollen]. Sunday, I came in and it was a little bit too swollen to just overlook with just ice. We got an MRI and that's what we found. We had to get it cleaned up a little bit."

Randle El will rehabilitate the knee at the complex while he continues to study Zorn's version of the West Coast offense. "The biggest thing is that you want to make sure the muscles around [the knee] stay strong," he said. "You want to make sure that your quad muscles and your calf muscles don't drop off."