Brandon Marshall said he "felt something" in his hip the past two seasons. That didn't stop him from earning a Pro Bowl spot in 2011 and 2012.
However, the Chicago Bears receiver had arthroscopic surgery on his hip in January and expects to be completely healthy for the start of 2013.
"The good thing about the procedure I got done and when I got it done is, I got it done at the start of the offseason, and when you're able to do something like that, you can take your time with it," Marshall told Chicago Sun-Times reporter Sean Jensen on Wednesday. "You can afford to be cautious. It's about working smarter, and I probably could have started weeks ago, but no rush. We don't play games until September. As long as I'm in top shape then, that's all that matters."
Marshall began running in a pool two weeks ago and moved to the track last week. He reached career highs with 118 receptions and 1,508 yards in 2012 and expects to top that -- once his body has time to recover.
"I'm excited to start this season 100-percent healthy and see how much better I can be, completely healthy," Marshall said. "I feel so great, man."
That might be a scary scenario for the rest of the NFC North.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
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