Sidelined for a few weeks due to an MCL sprain, Redskins cornerback Bashaud Breeland returned to practice Sunday and looked sharp in limited action.

While the timetable for his return was four to six weeks, Bashaud Breeland returned to practice on Sunday, showing no ill effects or rust from the sprained MCL he suffered in practice on July 31.

Redskins head coach Jay Gruden wasn't surprised that the second-year rookie was able to return so quickly.

"You could say four to six weeks, five to seven, eight, whatever, but the way Breeland works, he'll always side on the lower number," Gruden told the media following Sunday's Redskins Fan Day presented by Loudoun County Department of Economic Development.

In the practices following his injury, Breeland was seen on the sidelines at the Bon Secours Washington Redskins Training Center in Richmond, Va., going through vigorous rehab work while his teammates went through drills.

But the cornerback did a lot more work away from the field as well to get back quicker.

"I did a lot of treatment on my own," he said. "When I'm home I do a lot of step ups to try to strengthen it and things like that. When I come out here I do the speed ladder. I'm a DB, so my feet aren't going to really change that much."

Breeland said he really started to feel fully healthy again physically towards the end of training camp, and knew it was only a matter of getting clearance to return to practice.

"I just took it one day at a time," he said. "Last day of camp it started feeling pretty good, and I started doing a little bit of drills and cutting. There was no pain so it was pretty good."

Breeland was wearing a knee brace on Sunday and admitted that "as a DB you don't want to be in a brace or the receiver will want to fade ball it all day."

But the Clemson product worked on fumble drills and showed no hesitancy as he would bend low. He also ran at full-speed during 11-on-11s, keeping up with receivers in coverage while also forcing quarterback Robert Griffin III out of bounds on a scramble.

Breeland told reporters following the injury that part of the reason he suffered the injury was he was trying out a different pair of cleats to see how they would feel.

Returning to the cleats he wore during his rookie season, Breeland had no worries about his movement throughout the day.

"CJ's are all I played in last year and I shouldn't have changed it," he admitted. "It didn't have enough spikes on the bottom."

As he approaches his second season following a rookie season in which he appeared in all 16 games with 62 tackles, 14 passes defensed and two interceptions, Breeland is hoping to continue his steady climb towards a successful career.

"I'm trying to improve on every aspect of my game," he told Redskins.com. "I wasn't perfect. I jumped a lot of passes, but I'm trying to improve on my tracking as well as my technique at the line with my checking. I'm also trying to gain more football knowledge. My football IQ can be much better."

RELATED LINKS:
-- Breeland Relieved Knee Injury Not Too Serious
-- Breeland Out 4-6 Weeks With Sprained MCL

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