Worthy had back surgery in offseason

Packers defensive end Jerel Worthy revealed Wednesday that he missed all of the offseason and now the start of training camp because he's recovering from surgery on his lower back..

The Green Bay Packers never disclosed why Worthy was sidelined in the offseason, and at the start of camp said only that he has a lower-back injury. Worthy, though, talked to reporters on Wednesday for the first time since camp opened and in a brief interview said he had surgery in April.

"I had a little bit of cleanup on my lower back," he said without elaborating.

Worthy said he injured his back while training on his own before the start of the team's offseason training program.

"They wanted to make sure as far as my spine and the muscles around that everything was all right," he said. "Just make sure we get the right type of treatment and everything. I feel really good. I can do a lot of the things that they ask me to do as far as running, change of direction, lifting. I'm getting back to feeling like my old self. It's like I said before, it all depends on how (general manager) Ted (Thompson) is feeling upstairs. He could let me practice tomorrow, could be next week. Either way, I'm ready to go, I've done what I'm supposed to do."

Worthy is three to four months removed from surgery, depending on when in April he had the procedure. He's on the physically unable to perform list and can come off it at any time during camp, though if he doesn't pass a physical by final cuts, he will have to miss at least the first six weeks of the season.

"A couple things got out of place in my lower spine," Worthy said, "and at the end of the day, core strength and having a strong back is huge for what we do in the trenches. The way our team operates, we take the conservative road and make sure everybody is able before putting a guy back out there. They just have to make sure everybody is in tip-top shape. I will be ready for the season, I can tell you that much. This is not going to set me back."