Pro Bowl cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie expects to be out three to four months after knee surgery.
 
 
Hobbling around on crutches, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie showed up for rehab Tuesday at the Cardinals' Tempe facility with family.

The cornerback's baby was with him. So too was Rodgers-Cromartie's mother, in town to help out her son as he comes back from left knee surgery.

"She still treats me like a little baby, follows me wherever I go and make sure I'm all right," Rodgers-Cromartie said. "Sometimes it's nice to have. Sometimes, you're like, 'I've got to do it on my own.' "

Rodgers-Cromartie has plenty to do on his own. After a repair of his fractured tibia and torn medial collateral ligament – "I shredded it pretty good," he said – Rodgers-Cromartie remains hopeful he will be back on the field in time for organized team activities this summer.

He said he expects to be out "three to four months at the max."

That's the benefit of an MCL tear and not one of the anterior cruciate ligament, which would have included more extensive surgery and longer rehab.

When it was learned it wasn't an ACL injury, "the trainers kept saying, 'That's real good, that's real good' and everyone was happy," Rodgers-Cromartie said. "But shoot, I still had to have surgery. I wasn't happy.

"They say I am making a lot of progress and I am getting feeling back in my leg. That's a blessing."

The injury occurred in the Divisional playoff game against the Saints. Moving in to try and make a tackle, Rodgers-Cromartie was moved off the play one way and teammate Gabe Watson – "all 800 pounds of him," DRC quipped – came at Rodgers-Cromartie from the other direction.

"As soon as he hit me I knew it was bad," DRC said.

Rodgers-Cromartie led the Cardinals in interceptions this season with six (and added another in the Wild Card playoff win) to earn his first Pro Bowl berth. The Pro Bowl was in Miami, close to his hometown of Bradenton, and would have been a homecoming of sorts.

After Rodgers-Cromartie was forced to withdraw from the Pro Bowl, he was replaced by Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman.

"Once I figured out I had to have surgery, (the Pro Bowl) didn't even count anymore because the main thing was to get back in here and get this rehab going," Rodgers-Cromartie said.

 "They say you come back bigger and stronger and better," Rodgers-Cromartie added, "so if I come back bigger and stronger and better, that's a plus."