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Lions middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch says he's nearing a return from a torn ACL.

(Melanie Maxwell | MLive.com)

DETROIT -- Detroit Lions linebacker Stephen Tulloch doesn't want to talk about his knee. He's tired of talking about his knee.

He just wants to play.

He just wants to show everyone once and for all that, at 30 years old and coming off a torn ACL, he's still got it.

"Oh hell yeah," Tulloch told MLive during the "Taste of the Lions" event at Ford Field on Tuesday night. "When you've played the game as long as I have, been as productive as I've been, it's only right to be hungry, to be scratching to get back out there again.

"It's finally here. I'm finally healthy enough to get out there and perform and be in the playbook, and in the weight room running around, and it's a good feeling. Looking forward to getting back out there and helping this defense."

Tulloch is getting healthy, after tearing his ACL while celebrating a sack in a Sept. 21 game against the Packers. But will he be healthy enough to participate in OTAs?

"I'll be there," he said coyly.

Will he be there on the field?

"I'll be there," he said again.

It remains unclear, then, whether Tulloch will be ready to participate fully when OTAs begin May 26, roughly eight months after he suffered the injury. What is clear is Tulloch is already active in Detroit's offseason program, and his participation is escalating.

At this rate, barring a setback, Tulloch should have no problem being ready for the start of training camp in late July.

"It's good having him back out there," linebacker DeAndre Levy said. "He's moving around really well. It doesn't really look like he lost a step mentally, from not being out there. So it's fun having him back."

Tulloch, 30, signed with the Lions in 2011 and made 51 straight starts before tearing the ACL against Green Bay. He's been among the franchise's best players in that time, and certainly one of its most vocal leaders.

Tahir Whitehead played well in his place -- in fact, so well, there was some outside speculation that Tulloch could become a cap casualty. But the Lions swiftly nipped that talk, committing to Tulloch as their starting middle linebacker this season.

"I'm back in action," Tulloch said. "Have had a great team of people working on me all offseason to get me to the point where I'm running around on the field -- to the point where I used to be at, or better than where I used to be at.

"I'm looking forward to my 10th year in the league, getting back on the field and helping this defense."

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