CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green said that he has a Grade II hamstring tear that occurred two weeks ago against the Buffalo Bills. However, he feels optimistic that the injury is not as bad as it initially seemed.
"Grade II tear -- it was 50 percent torn," Green said Friday in his first interview since the injury. "But it's not bad, it's not torn off the bone or nothing like that. No surgery needed."
Green said the injury felt like someone was grabbing his leg and he initially thought it was a cramp. When he realized he couldn't walk, Green had to take a cart to the locker room.
"I'm just happy with it not [being] anything more serious, anything I have to have surgery for," he said.
Green said he began doing some jogging this week, which was a big step after the initial prognosis.
"Coming from that [Buffalo] game, I thought it was going to take at least two weeks before I could even walk," he said. "It feels great. It's getting better every day."
Green said there's no timetable for him to return, but he's going to be cautious.
"I'm going to play it safe. I want to get back, no matter what kind of season we're having," he said. "I'm not the type of guy to pack it in. Whenever I'm ready, I'll be ready to go, but I'm not going to rush it and have this as a continuing issue."
Prior to the injury, Green was having one of the best seasons of his career, with 964 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He is just 36 yards away from his sixth 1000-yard receiving season. Should he return and reach 1,000 yards, he would join Randy Moss as the only receiver to have a 1,000-yard season in each of his first six years.
However, Green said he won't rush back to break that mark.
"That's cool, but I'm not going to put my whole career [in jeopardy] just because of a record," he said. "I've got a lot of football left to be played and I'm not going to push it just to try to get that and have to miss more time next year or have surgery because I went out too early and tore it even more."
Green also dismissed any idea that he wouldn't come back if the team is eliminated from playoff contention. If it's Week 17 and it's safe to play, he's going to do so.
"That's not the type of guy I am," he said. "I don't bail out on my team because we're not having the season we want to have."