Texans' Brown says he'll be ready for season after quad injury

Houston Texans left tackle Duane Brown believes he'll be ready for the start of the 2016 season after tearing a tendon in his right quad in January.

Brown suffered the injury during the team's regular-season finale and underwent surgery in January to reattach the tendon.

The three-time Pro Bowler said he won't rush back onto the field, but is making great progress in his recovery.

"I'm listening to my body a lot," Brown said to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. "I'm 30 years old and I've played in this league a good amount of time. I'm not going to push it to the point where I have a setback. I'm listening to my body closely, but I feel good and I think I'll be ready to go when the season starts."

Brown is confident that a stable of veteran linemen, including his replacement Chris Clark, will be able to take over in a leadership capacity while he's out.

"I just want to continue to get healthy," Brown said. "That's the main goal for me and to continue to be a leader. I'm going into my ninth season with this organization, and it's a blessing to be here. We've got some elder statesmen as well as some guys who are very young. I'm going to work my way through it mentally and be a student of the game and do as much as I can do until I'm ready to go full-speed physically."

Brown will be a key pillar of the Texans' new-look offense, and will be responsible for keeping quarterback Brock Osweiler upright. If Brown recovers as expected, the Texans ought to be optimistic about their chances of winning the AFC South for a second consecutive year.