The Sports Xchange

Houston Texans outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney is making significant progress in his recovery from microfracture surgery.

In an interview with Forbes, Texans Dr. Walt Lowe said Clowney “looks spectacular” seven months after surgery on his right knee.

“The real goal in the end is to have him be who he was before he got hurt,” Lowe told Forbes.

Clowney was limited to four games in his rookie year, making just five tackles. He suffered a lateral right meniscus tear in the Texans’ 2014 season opener, had arthroscopic knee surgery the next day and attempted to return to the field in the following month. Due to articular cartilage damage, Clowney underwent microfracture surgery on Dec. 8.

—Tennessee Titans wide receiver Justin Hunter, who was charged with malicious wounding for his involvement in a July 3 bar fight, is expected at training camp next week.

Hunter was released on $25,000 bond Tuesday after being formally charged a day after he turned himself in to authorities in his hometown of Virginia Beach, Va. The charge stems from an incident in the oceanfront resort area during the Fourth of July weekend.

Hunter is accused of “malicious intent, stabbing, cutting and wounding” in a brawl that hospitalized one person in Virginia Beach. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3.

—Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who was selected with the first overall pick in 1998 by the Indianapolis Colts, plans to attend Bill Polian’s Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony next month.

Manning called in to the former Colts general manager’s radio show Tuesday night on SiriusXM to congratulate Polian and said he will be in attendance for the ceremony. Manning spent 14 seasons in Indianapolis with Polian, and the future Hall of Fame quarterback will be making his first trip to Canton, Ohio.

Linebacker Junior Seau, guard Will Shields, defensive end Charles Haley, wide receiver Tim Brown and running back Jerome Bettis were chosen as the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2015, and they were joined by two contributors, general managers Ron Wolf and Polian, and seniors committee candidate center Mick Tingelhoff. The class will be enshrined on Saturday, Aug. 8, at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton.

—NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is intrigued about the possibility of Pittsburgh hosting a Super Bowl.

“I always thought football in the elements is a great part of the game. I love that,” Goodell said at a fundraising event in Pittsburgh, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “We think football is meant to be played in the elements. We understand that and love that.”

At the league meeting in May in San Francisco, Steelers owner Art Rooney II submitted an application for Pittsburgh to be under consideration for the 2023 Super Bowl. A formal bid wouldn’t come until spring 2018, with a vote probably taken in 2019.

—Chris Cooley, who last played tight end in the NFL in 2012, is drawing interest from the Arizona Cardinals.

ESPN reported Wednesday that the two sides were discussing parameters of a contract just a week before all 32 teams will have begun training camp.

The 33-year-old Cooley said recently on his radio show in the D.C. area that he’s in great shape after spending the past few months working out.

—The Cleveland Browns signed offensive lineman Joe Madsen and placed three rookies on injury lists.

Seventh-round cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and sixth-round tight end Randall Telfer were placed on the non-football injury list, and the team designated undrafted defensive lineman Tory Slater as physically unable to perform.

Ekpre-Olomu, a two-time All-American at Oregon, was considered a second- or third-round talent, but he slipped into the last round because of an ACL injury suffered in December during practice before the College Football Playoff title game.