Hakeem Nicks: 'I just want to be smart' about injury

[Updated by Ed Valentine, 08/02/13 3:11 PM EDT ]

Hakeem Nicks finally met Friday with a media that has been seeking comment from him for several days, and the star wide receiver said he is sitting out practices due to a groin issue because "we just want to be smart about it."

Some have wondered if Nicks, in a contract year and coming off a season in which he was slowed by foot and knee issues, is being too conservative.

"Some people on the outside looking in really don't understand," Nicks said. "just want to be cautious about it and make sure I'm able to perform when it's really time and it really counts."

Nicks caught only 53 passes last season after caching 79 and 76 the previous two seasons. "I've got to protect myself from myself," Nicks said. "I think if this happened last year, I would have just kept pushing my body through, pushing my body through. But, being a little wiser and knowing the game a little bit now, knowing the business side of things, you just kind of want to be smart."

Nicks said "it definitely won't be more than another day or two" until he is back on the practice field. "It’s really, I wouldn’t even categorize it as an injury. I think it’s just being smart, you know, coming off the problems that I had last year with the knee and the foot."