Travis Beckum

The Giants may not be banking on having TE Travis Beckum at the start of the 2012 season. But there's a pretty good chance that it might happen.

Beckum was at Sunday's Knicks-Heat game, and he told the Daily News that he's still hoping to return by the start of the season.

"If everything works out, yeah," he said. "I'm just working hard and getting it healthy."

Just two months after surgery, Beckum, who tore his ACL and meniscus in Super Bowl XLVI, is already moving around without a brace and feeling next to no pain. He had surgery on Feb. 28, then spent three weeks using a passive machine to regain his range of motion. He's already progressed to strength exercises, and there was no sign of crutches when he showed up at the Garden.

He said he hasn't run yet, mostly because there's no need to push it this early in the offseason.

There's also no need to rush back to health, and Beckum said that he understands that. The Giants acquired veteran tight end Martellus Bennett in free agency, and they picked up super-athlete Adrien Robinson in the draft, so Beckum knows he doesn't need to rush back.

Jake Ballard will probably be out a while, so the Giants will lean on Bennett and Robinson until Beckum gets back into the mix.