Cornerback Shawn Springs could be sidelined 3-6 weeks after undergoing a medical procedure to repair a minor tear in his abdominal muscle.

It is hoped that Springs will be fully healthy by the start of the regular season, on Sept. 11, against the Minnesota Vikings.

Describing the medical procedure, head coach Joe Gibbs said: "It's fairly simple process, it's the same one that John Hall had last offseason, so they decided that it was best for Shawn and for us to go ahead and get that repaired.

"I talked to the doctor this morning, and the best guess is that it'd be 3-6 weeks and it just depends on how he's going to return from that."

Springs was not at Tuesday afternoon's practice. The 10-year veteran participated in training camp practices and he played in last Sunday's preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Springs logged a sack on a cornerback blitz on Bengals' QB Anthony Wright.

Springs has been mostly durable in his NFL career, playing in 123 of 144 games. As a Redskin, he has played in 15 games each of the last two years, although he did sit out one of the team's playoff games due to a groin injury.

Asked if the injury was related to the groin injury last season, Gibbs said: "We don't think so. It's in the same general area so I don't guess you ever know on something like that. He came back this year, looked great and felt great.

"It wasn't something we had to do, but we felt like the best option for Shawn and for us was to go ahead and repair it now to make sure something didn't happen later in the year to make it worse."

Meantime, the Redskins signed fifth-year defensive back Mike Rumph on Monday, adding to the team's depth in the secondary. Eight-year veteran Kenny Wright was added in the offseason.

With Springs sidelined, the Redskins will continue to take a close look at some of the young cornerbacks on the roster, including Christian Morton, Dimitri Patterson, Chris Hawkins and John Eubanks.