AP

Defensive end Robert Quinn had 40 sacks from 2012 to 2014, vaulting him up the list of the best pass rushers in the league heading into the Rams’ final season in St. Louis.

Quinn wasn’t able to make it through the entire year, however. He dealt with knee and hip injuries before ultimately seeing his season come to an end at the halfway point because of a back injury that required surgery. Quinn has been rehabbing for a while, but isn’t a full participant in the team’s offseason program and says that there’s still “some time before they really let me go full tilt.”

When that time comes, Quinn says he’ll emerge from the corner that players get put in when they suffer serious injuries.

“I’m not the first to have an injury or overcome an injury, but not having half the season, of course you get put into the shadows a little bit,” Quinn said, via ESPN.com. “I don’t need other people to motivate me. Seeing some of that stuff might somewhat add some fire, but at the end of the day I have got my personal goals I want to achieve and that would turn the doubters into believers. I just come to work, put a smile on and see what I’ve got to prove to myself and no one else. I think that’s the way everyone should approach the game.”

Quinn’s not sure if he’ll be “full tilt” for the start of training camp, but the expectation is that he’ll be ready to go for the start of the regular season. That’s good news for the Rams defense, which will be much better if Quinn and defensive tackle Aaron Donald are winning battles up front in 2016.