FOXBORO — Almost seven months to the day Wes Welker shredded his left knee on the turf at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, the wide receiver was back in pads working out with his teammates in training camp.

“I don’t feel like I really left it, you know?” Welker said in a nine-minute Q&A with reporters after the workout. “It felt good to be out there with teammates and do some things.”

Welker suffered the ACL injury on Jan. 3 against the Texans when he planted his left leg after making his NFL-leading 123rd catch of the season. The receiver was carted off the field, and underwent surgery in February. After an offseason of rehab (which also included rotator cuff surgery), he was placed on the active physically unable to perform list Tuesday.

But after a couple of days working out in a T-shirt and shorts on the practice field, he was removed from the PUP list on Sunday and cleared to return to practice.

While there was no contact for Welker on Sunday morning, just getting back on the field in pads represented a major milestone for the receiver.

“My goal was working hard every single day and making sure I’m putting myself in the best position possible to be back,” Welker said. “That’s all I could do on a daily basis, and I feel like I’ve done that. Wherever I’m at is where I’m at, and luckily, we’ve gotten this far.”

While Welker was in pads for the first time this summer, he spent a relatively short time on the field interacting with his teammates in the session, which ran just shy of two hours. As was the case throughout the spring practices, Welker started with his teammates, going through stretching and drills with the rest of the receivers while wearing a large black brace on his left knee.

However, fairly early in the process, he split from the group and worked individually on the far practice field. At one point, he was joined by fellow receiver Randy Moss and quarterback Tom Brady for a series of route-running drills, but Moss soon rejoined the rest of the team while Brady and Welker remained on the far field, going through a series of individual routes that included short, intermediate and long passes.

By my count in this series, Welker dropped a pair of balls — one at his feet that he bobbled and dropped, and another drop that sparked a rare show of anger where he yelled and kicked the ball across the field after losing the handle. (“That was just a little frustrating, I should have caught that one,” Welker said later with a small smile. “I like to display my soccer skills whenever I get an opportunity.”)

Later, when Brady returned to action with the rest of the team, Welker stuck with members of the strength and conditioning staff. The receiver then proceeded to go through a series of drills until the end of practice, most of which included him being tethered to a resistance rope. (One of the drills had him tethered as he came off the line, only to see the rope release as he went into his route.)

To that point, Welker said the biggest challenge for him this far has been showing an “explosion” off the ball.

“I think coming off the ball with a lot of explosion and making sure you’re getting in and out of your cuts with separation and really just getting back in the swing of things,” Welker said.

“Whether you were hurt or not, when you haven’t played any sort of football for six months and you just come out there and try and do it, there’s going to be some mishaps here. You’re not going to be all there. You’re going to be a little bit rusty so you have to knock that rust of to make sure you’re going to come back the way you need to.”

As for predicting how the rest of camp might play out, Welker said it’s all about making improvements every day.

“For me, it’s going out doing my job every single play and making sure I’m getting plusses on every single play I’m out there,” he said, “and as long as I’m getting the job done and making things happen out there, I’m going to be happy with myself. If not, then I’ve still got work to do.”

When Patriots coach Bill Belichick discussed Welker’s status earlier in the week, he said that when it comes to rehabbing knee injuries, “the last 10 to 20 percent on those injuries is the hardest part to get back.” When asked about that on Sunday, Welker said that final stage includes making the transition back to live action.

“I think it’s just mainly knocking the rust off and making sure that you’re out there getting routes and running routes against coverages and [a] man in your face and getting releases and things like that, because it’s hard to simulate that stuff if you’re not on the field.”

Going forward, Welker didn’t talk about a possible preseason timetable (NFL Network analyst Mike Lombardi said he wouldn’t expect to see Welker in preseason games until the third week), but did say he would like to be able to play in the season opener (Sept. 12 against Cincinnati).

At the same time, he acknowledged that decision is out of his hands.

“I would like to be (there),” he said. “That’s up to the coaches and doctors, and we’ll put it in their hands and see what they have to say about it.”