Texans tight end Owen Daniels passed a physical and was removed from the physically unable to perform list, the team's official website reported Monday.
Daniels tore his right anterior cruciate ligament midway through last season and underwent surgery in November. He visited Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday, and the renowned orthopedist declared Daniels' knee fully healed.
The 6-foot-3, 243-pound Daniels was on schedule to be ready for the start of training camp until the spring. He started feeling soreness in the reconstructed knee in April and May, and doctors found a stress fracture in his right kneecap, a potentially career-threatening setback.
"We were blindsided by it, because we were just going in and expecting to see a little inflammation or what have you," Daniels said. "When the doctor said it was a stress fracture, we were all shocked."
Doctors were puzzled how Daniels could have sustained such a rare injury during his rehab. Daniels said he continued to work as the soreness increased, but he doesn't believe he was overdoing it.
"I think it was just something that was meant to happen, and the good thing was it could've broken all the way through and broken off," Daniels said. "So we were playing with fire there for a while, really working hard and not knowing what the problem was."
After consulting with several doctors across the country, Daniels decided against a procedure to insert a screw inside his knee, opting instead to let the injury heal on its own.
The team's official site also reported that running back Ben Tate and receiver/kick returner Trindon Holliday were placed on season-ending injured reserve. Both players were injured in the team's opening preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals, with Tate suffering a severe ankle injury and Holliday, a sixth-round pick out of LSU, tearing ligaments in his left thumb.
The moves reduced the Texans' active roster to 75 players.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
