By Jason Wilde
Channel3000.com's Packer Insider from ESPN Madison

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Atari Bigby says he would be “extremely” disappointed if he opened the 2010 NFL season on the physically unable to perform list.

Based on the timetable the Green Bay Packers safety gave Thursday for his recovery from ankle surgery, he’d better be prepared for disappointment.

“Man, I’m hearing from four weeks to eight weeks,” said Bigby, who was in the locker room following Thursday morning’s practice. “So we’ll just see how it goes. It just depends on how fast my body can heal.”

Bigby underwent arthroscopic surgery on Aug. 6 on his troublesome ankle, which had surgically repaired once before, in December 2008. Bigby said he still has the stitches in his ankle from the most recent surgery, which was performed in Charlotte, N.C., by orthopedic surgeon Robert Anderson, the same doctor who did the microfracture surgery in 2008.

Bigby said the arthroscopic surgery removed scar tissue but nothing else was repaired structurally. He also said that he had a problem with the anesthesia after the surgery and was struggling with nausea for a few days afterward.

“They just said there was some scar tissue in there that was restricting the motion,” Bigby said, adding that the stitches should be removed in “a couple” days. “I think I’m doing pretty good right now. I’m walking around pretty fine, I’ve got to get it a little stronger. So we’ll see what happens.”

Because he failed his physical at the start of training camp – Bigby says he injured his ankle during the conditioning test, which he passed – he has been on the camp PUP list and has yet to practice.

As such, he – along with cornerback Al Harris and rookie running back James Starks – would be eligible for the regular-season PUP list, which means the player would miss the first six weeks of the season, then be eligible to start practicing during a window in which the team would have to decide whether to activate him or put him on season-ending injured reserve.

Once a player practices in training camp, that player is not eligible for the PUP and would either have to be kept on the 53-man roster or put on IR.

In Bigby’s case, the Packers must decide whether or not he could contribute in, say, Week 4, because it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that he won’t be close to ready for the Sept. 12 regular-season opener at Philadelphia.

While choosing not to sign his one-year restricted free-agent tender this spring, Bigby missed all of the individual position workouts (IPWs), organized team activity practices (OTAs) and the mandatory minicamp. Thus, he would go into the regular season without a single snap of practice if he avoided the PUP.

Asked how he’d feel if he started the year on PUP, Bigby replied, “Very disappointing. Very. Extremely. Give me a better word for it.”

Bigby has repeatedly disputed the notion that he might have been better off signing his tender, having the Packers’ medical staff examine the ankle and then having surgery this spring. Earlier in camp, Bigby asserted that the ankle wasn’t an issue until the conditioning test. But he did admit Thursday that it bothered him at times during offseason training on his own in Miami and Arizona.

“In the beginning of the offseason, right after the season, yeah (the ankle hurt),” Bigby admitted. “If I did think it was going to be that big of a deal, I would’ve tried my best to get the surgery way back then. I just thought it was beat up after the season. I went through the whole offseason, I rested on it, and then I thought I would be able to come back and be 100 (percent). Of course I wasn’t.”

For now, rookie third-round pick Morgan Burnett is the starter and is a virtual lock to start against the Eagles. Bigby would have to accelerate his recovery to be ready for any of the handful of games that follow and give the team a reason not to put him on PUP.

“I don’t know what they’re going to do,” Bigby said. “What I’m doing is focusing on getting healthy, getting my ankle back to where it needs to be as fast as I can and as safe as I can. Once I do that, then everything will fall into place.”