TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Edgerrin James appears to be back in form.

In the first week of the Indianapolis Colts’ training camp, the two-time NFL rushing champ is making moves he couldn’t make last season, the year after he underwent surgery on his left knee.

“We’ve seen the same thing in summer school,” Colts president Bill Polian said with a wide smile Monday. “It tells me he’s on schedule, and he’s back to where he was.”

For James, it has been a long, painful and difficult recovery from the injury: a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the worst injury there can be for a running back.

Doctors and coaches warned him it would take two years to heal completely.

But last year at training camp, James proclaimed himself 100 percent fit just nine months after the surgery.

Initially he showed glimpses of his Pro Bowl form. As the season wore on, though, things changed. James got nicked up, and eventually wore down.

He sprained both ankles and missed two games. He needed rest during games and practice. He cut cautiously and his typically powerful runs became rare. He was even replaced in short-yardage situations.

He finished the season with 989 yards and a 3.6 average compared to 1,553 and 4.2 and 1,709 and 4.4 in his first two seasons.

“I was coming from a situation of not being able to walk every day,” James said. “I was held back, I couldn’t do full two-a-days and that gave a false sense of what I could do.”

This year already feels different to James, whom the Colts selected ahead of Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams in the 1999 NFL draft.

When he walks up and down steps, he doesn’t feel pain. On the football field, he’s running with power and doesn’t worry about hits.

Ravens

Kyle Boller nearly didn’t make it through his first NFL practice in full pads.

The rookie quarterback dropped into the pocket Monday when Terrell Suggs, the Baltimore Ravens’ other first-round pick, rolled the quarterback’s legs out from under him.

Both players quickly popped back up; no harm done.

“It brought back old memories,” said Boller, who played against Suggs in college. “He’s a great player. It’s awesome to have such a good defense coming at you. You get the best work that way.”

Not all was positive for the Ravens on Monday.

Linebacker Bernardo Harris, who started 12 games last season after Ray Lewis was injured, broke his left leg at practice and said he expected to miss four-to-six weeks.

The team also said that wide receiver Javin Hunter will miss the entire season with a ruptured right Achilles tendon. Safety Ray Perryman dislocated his left shoulder and is out indefinitely.

As for Boller, he ended his holdout last week, but circumstances delayed his first full-scale workout until Monday morning, when he formally entered the competition to determine the Ravens’ starting quarterback for the Sept. 7 opener in Pittsburgh. Chris Redman is the incumbent and journeyman Anthony Wright is also in the hunt.

Redskins

Mindful of his reputation, Steve Spurrier was quick to dash any notion that Danny Wuerffel’s return is the first stop in yet another year of quarterback carousel.

“We don’t have any problems,” the Washington Redskins coach said Monday. “Some of you guys may want to create them, but there’s no problems on our team who the quarterback is.”

After making five starting quarterback changes in his first NFL season a year ago, Spurrier is going with second-year player Patrick Ramsey through thick and thin, at least for now. The plan is for Wuerffel, who joined the team Monday morning at practice, to compete with struggling veteran Rob Johnson for the No. 2 spot.

“Patrick Ramsey is by far our best quarterback,” Spurrier said. “Danny gives us some insurance.”

Wuerffel, Ramsey and Shane Matthews each got two turns at the starting job a year ago. Wuerffel started four games and was the only quarterback to lose his job due to injury. He completed 58 of 92 passes for 719 yards with three touchdowns and six interceptions.

It had been expected Spurrier would bring Wuerffel back for another season, but Spurrier hesitated because of the backlash he received from signing so many of his former Florida players a year ago.

“We sort of cleared out all the old Gators, to tell you the truth,” Spurrier said. “We cleared out, then we started adding back guys to help our team. I told Danny I was sorry it had to work this way.”

Lions

Wide receiver Charles Rogers dressed in pads and took part in a few light drills at training camp Monday, nearly a week after he dislocated his left ring finger.

“We’re going to get those sutures out in a day or two, then he’ll be able to do more,” coach Steve Mariucci said. “He’s out here. He’s suited up. He’s running routes. He’s doing some of those things. He’s not fully participating, but after those sutures come out, he’ll do more.”

Mariucci has said Rogers’ availability for Saturday’s preseason opener at Ford Field against Pittsburgh would depend on how much he practiced this week.

Jets

The New York Jets activated cornerback Will Hunter from the physically unable to perform list Monday.

The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Hunter was placed on the PUP list with an ankle injury on July 21. Hunter, a rookie free-agent out of Syracuse, will return to practice with the team Tuesday.

Dolphins

Newcomer Sammy Knight needed barely a week of training camp to dislodge Arturo Freeman as the Dolphins’ starting strong safety.

Knight was listed with the first team on the first depth chart released Monday, and he’ll start the opening exhibition game Friday against Tampa Bay.

“Sammy right now is just playing a little better,” coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Sammy will start this week and we’ll just progress from there.”

Knight was a six-year starter at New Orleans, and made the Pro Bowl in 2001 before signing with Miami as an unrestricted free agent in May.

Panthers

Carolina Panthers rookie defensive tackle Kindal Moorehead returned to the team Monday after spending four days in a Charlotte hospital because of an insect bite.

Moorehead, taken in the fifth-round out of Alabama, is expected to practice later this week. But he might not play in the preseason opener Saturday against the Washington Redskins.

On July 26, the first day of training camp, Moorehead said he awoke with what he thought was a mosquito bite on his right forearm.

Four days later, his right forearm, hand and elbow were swollen.

Doctors worried there might be a chance of bacteria from the infection spreading to the rest of the body. They extracted a piece of skin from around the bite and put Moorehead on antibiotics and kept him on intravenous fluids.

Chargers

Five San Diego Chargers wide receivers missed both practices Monday, including rookie Kassim Osgood with a broken thumb that will sideline him for at least four weeks.

Osgood, a free agent from San Diego State, was hurt making a one-handed catch on Sunday.

Other wideouts missing practice were David Boston (oblique muscle), Tim Dwight (groin), Dondre Gilliam (knee) and Reche Caldwell (groin).