[img_r]http://media.jsonline.com/images/440*335/ppddrive11p.jpg[/img_r]Donald Driver not only feels great after he had arthroscopic surgery on both knees in January, but the Green Bay Packers wide receiver wishes he had the procedure years ago.
Driver was in the Milwaukee area Thursday and Friday to support Packers teammate Greg Jennings in his fund-raising efforts for Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity and the Greg Jennings Foundation.
Driver said he hadn't told anyone other than the Packers staff that he was playing with limited range and flexibility as well as pain last year. It wasn't until last Wednesday, when Packers coach Mike McCarthy admitted that Driver and linebacker Nick Barnett had both had knee scopes. Both players had been held out of off-season practices and are working with a group of rehabilitating players.
Driver, 35, said he had the knees scoped by team doctor Pat McKenzie in January right after the season ended.
He said he hasn't been practicing in any of the organized team activities, although he has been cleared to go by trainers. Driver said the Packers told him to take a break during on-field work but to stay around for team morale, so he's been working out with teammates like Charles Woodson.
"I'm on that senior citizen program," Driver said, laughing.
Before the surgeries, his right knee had become so inflexible he couldn't bend it, not for squats, not even to pull his ankle back just to do a quadriceps stretch.
Driver, who caught 70 passes for 1,061 yards and six touchdowns last season, didn't say much publicly about his knees in 2009 but pointed out that at some games last season his knees were wrapped to keep them warm and protect them.
"I feel so good now," Driver said. "The trainers said, 'You look 25 again.' I had the scope because I want to play until I'm 40. I wanted to extend my career another five years.
"I should have done it years ago," he said. "I played like this for two, three years, with pain. I can jump now. I can squat.
"I didn't say anything about it because I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I'm fine. I feel good now."