FOXBORO — Derrick Burgess said it was a personal matter and not the possibility of retirement that kept him away from the first two-plus weeks of training camp, and added that going forward, he’s fully committed to being a part of the Patriots.

The 32-year-old, who had five sacks last season with New England, said it was a “personal situation” that arose at the end of July that kept him away from Foxboro for the start of training camp. It had been reported that Burgess was possibly thinking about retirement, but he shot down that idea Sunday afternoon after his first day of training camp practices.

“I just had a personal situation going on,” said Burgess. “I had to take time to take care of [some things], and me and Bill [talked] about it, and he just told me to take my time and get my stuff together.

“It was basically some personal matters I had to take care of.”

Burgess was not in Foxboro when the Patriots convened for training camp on July 29 and was soon placed on the Did Not Report list. In a conference call with reporters on Saturday shortly after Burgess was elevated to the active roster again, Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked what had changed regarding the status of the Ole Miss product.

“Personal conversations,” Belichick said. “It changed basically when he arrived here and passed his physical and conditioning test [Saturday] morning and will be out on the field the next time we’re out there.”

Burgess said he was in contact with the team throughout his absence, and was thankful the franchise allowed him the opportunity to get his personal affairs in order before heading to Foxboro.

“I’m happy to be here. I’m glad they allowed me to come back after taking care of my personal business,” Burgess said. “We talked, and everything is understandable. It’s one of the things I needed to take care of, Bill gave me the opportunity to take care of it and that’s it on that.”

He said there was no relief in missing out on the two-a-days, and actually said that physically, he was a “little bit ahead” of where he was last year at this time.

“It wasn’t like I was just missing camp,” he said. “I had too much on my mind with the things I needed to take care of. There was no relief there. It was relief when I was done with it and was able to come to camp. That was my relief.”

Burgess, who missed a total of 22 practices, would not put a potential timetable on his return to game action, but based on his performance the first day back, it doesn’t appear out of the realm of possibility that he would see very limited action Thursday against the Falcons in Atlanta. After a Sunday morning walkthrough, he took part in his first padded practice on Sunday afternoon, and in the session that ran for roughly two hours, he lined up at his old outside linebacker/defensive end spot with the No. 1 defense in nickel and dime sets. There were times where he appeared to struggle against mammoth right tackle Sebastian Vollmer, but he certainly didn’t appear that rusty.

“I’m in shape,” Burgess said after practice with a smile. “I live in Mississippi. It was hot, so that’s enough right there for it.”

Burgess is entering his 10th season in the NFL, and has 52 career sacks, including 16 in 2005 and 11 in 2006 (both with Oakland). Taken in the third round of the 2001 draft by Philadelphia, he’s also played with the Raiders before being dealt to the Patriots last August for a pair of draft picks. Last year, he struggled at times out of the gate, but finished with five sacks, including three in the final four regular-season games.

His return brings more depth to the outside linebacker spot, an area where the Patriots were thin and lacking in NFL experience when camp opened. In his absence, New England used Pierre Woods, Rob Ninkovich and Marques Murrell at the OLB position, and it was Murrell who got the start and played well in the preseason opener against the Saints, coming away with one sack. However, the return of Burgess means that the two-time Pro Bowler will likely slide back into that outside spot opposite Tully Banta-Cain.

Burgess wasn’t completely separate from the team — he did watch Thursday’s game against New Orleans.

“I think we looked pretty sharp out there,” he said. “[But] it’s training camp, it’s preseason. We’ve got a lot to work towards, but it’s a good start.”