INDIANAPOLIS — Tua Tagovailoa climbed up a couple stairs, then walked to the podium without a hitch Tuesday.

It was a promising start to a critical week.

Eventually, the former Alabama quarterback revealed what NFL scouts eagerly awaited: He should be cleared to resume all football activities March 9 and will hold his pro day workout April 9 – exactly two weeks before the NFL draft.

“It’s been a process,” Tagovailoa said. “We went to the hospital for medical checks yesterday at 10 in the morning and I was the last person to leave. I got back about 7:49 last night, so right in time for the informal and formal (team) interviews.”

It’s been a grueling process ever since the man with the multi-million dollar arm injured his hip Nov. 15. Two days later, he had season-ending surgery.

Tagovailoa spent the next three months working his way back, rehearsing answers to all those nagging questions he expected at the league’s annual scouting combine.

Here, in Indianapolis, the 6-foot, 217-pound college star is one of roughly 300 draft prospects getting poked and prodded, measured and tested this week.

But the continual queries about his health are a stark reminder how tough the comeback journey has been.

“I think the lowest point was just at that moment when I got hurt,” he said. “I didn’t feel bad for myself when I was on the helicopter going to Birmingham, when I was in the hospital. The lowest point was when I got hurt.”

He’s not quite 100 percent yet, but it is clear Tagovailoa feels a lot more like himself these days. Inside the interview room, he stood behind the microphone, smiling repeatedly as he fielded reporters’ questions for nearly 30 minutes.

At times, he sounded like a polished pro, even brushing aside a question about how uncomfortable he felt talking about himself.

He explained that he’d been throwing a little, nothing crazy, and that he’s been training with former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer and former NFL head coach and offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt to prepare for this week.

PANTHERS: Matt Rhule, Carolina’s new coach, made it clear that he wants a healthy quarterback Cam Newton on his roster. He praised Newton’s work ethic in his attempt to return to full health for the first time two years and continued to emphasize that the team does not know exactly what the future holds.

“Oh yeah, absolutely. I absolutely want Cam here. There’s no doubt about that,” Rhule said when asked if he saw Newton on the roster in September. “We have to make sure that we continue to get him healthy.”

Rhule wouldn’t commit to Newton being the Panthers’ starter in Week 1, but said that philosophy applied to every player on the team – not just quarterback; everyone has to earn their place, prioritizing keeping the feeling of competition among all of the players on the roster, regardless of how things stood last year.

He added that Newton has been doing a “great job” of getting himself ready to return to play: “We haven’t really seen a healthy Cam in two years. … I don’t really care if he’s full speed until September.”

GIANTS: Joe Judge said the team is open to trading down from the fourth overall pick, but the Giants’ rookie head coach said nothing is set in stone this early in the game.

“We don’t have to do anything, but we’ll listen to anything,” Judge said of flipping the No. 4 pick for more draft assets. The Giants are in an advantageous position picking so high in the draft. If a team wants to trade up for Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa or Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert, the Giants are in a prime spot to trade down with a quarterback-needy team.

LIONS: Detroit released defensive tackle Damon “Snacks” Harrison, less than a year after signing him to an $11 million, one-year contract extension. He went into the 2019 season with two years left on the $46 million contract he signed with the New York Giants.

Harrison started in 15 games last season, but had a career-low 49 tackles and two sacks for the three-win Lions.

COLTS: Longtime left tackle Anthony Castonzo is expected to return next season after contemplating retirement for more than a month.