FOXBORO — Despite being hindered by lingering pain and a cumbersome cast, despite some on-field controversy in the playoffs, Ellis Hobbs isn’t disappointed in the way his second NFL season turned out, and is looking forward to his third.

“By no means am I disappointed,” Hobbs said this week after an offseason training session at Gillette Stadium. “From my rookie year to last year, I still had a better year because of the obstacles I had to overcome.”

Thanks to Hobbs and Tedy Bruschi, Patriots fans know quite a bit about the scaphoid bone. Bruschi broke the small, peanut-shaped bone in his right wrist during training camp, and Hobbs broke the same bone in his left wrist during New England’s Week Three loss to Denver last season. Though he had surgery and missed just one game because of the injury, Hobbs played in pain for the rest of the season and wore a hard, removable black cast that hampered him on the field.

The gregarious cornerback had a second surgery nearly 11 weeks ago and is easing his way back into things as he and most of the Patriots go through their training regimen.

“It’s not so much that I have limitations and it’s me being cautious,” Hobbs said when asked if he has the green light for all exercises. “There really is no rush right now; if I don’t feel like doing [a drill or exercise], I don’t. Not saying that I can’t, but” if it might stress the surgically repaired joint, he backs off.

Despite taking one week off, Hobbs does not feel that he rushed to get back on the field.

“They said I could play. If you can play, if you can contribute in a positive way, you should be out there.”

But he said the pain did affect him in the first few weeks after the first surgery, that no matter how many medications or shots he took, it was still there.

And the cast took some getting used to as well: “It was bulky. It was like an appliance on my arm,” he said.

After New England beat San Diego on the road in the Divisional round of the playoffs, Hobbs danced at midfield at Qualcomm Stadium. An upset Philip Rivers was screaming that Hobbs was “the sorriest cornerback in the league,” though Hobbs was far from the only Pats’ player who was excited about the team beating the No. 1 seed.

Hobbs said he immediately apologized to Chargers’ running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

“We were so excited. Emotion took over me at the spur of the moment. LT came to me and said, ‘You didn’t have to do that,’ and I said, ‘You’re right,’ ” said Hobbs.

Nor does Hobbs seem to harbor any ill will toward Rivers, whose comments were more personal.

“Just like I was a little unprofessional, he was too. He came down to my level with that. [But] we were both wrong.”

Hobbs has been on the move this offseason, visiting some old teammates at Iowa State and also traveling home to DeSoto, Texas, where he sponsors a high school track-and-field meet. The second annual Ellis Hobbs Invitational was held last month, and unlike last year, when he was asked to help at the last minute after a soda company pulled its money, Hobbs was more involved this year. He spent time with the student-athletes, posed for pictures and had T-shirts made up. He said it is important to him to show children from the area that professional athletes “don’t just pop out of midair” and that they can come from DeSoto.

Though he has not spoken to fellow corner Asante Samuel, who is unhappy with the state of contract talks with the team, Hobbs said, “I support [Samuel], but at the same time, I play for the New England Patriots, so I have no say. I expect things to play out for the [best], but if they don’t, we have to move on. But he is wanted around here.”

As he begins looking toward his third season, Hobbs is setting goals and focusing on becoming a top-flight corner.

“I look at it as a big season, not that the last two weren’t. Each game I want to improve more and more,” he said. “I just have to go out there and do it: be consistent and raise my game every game.”

smanza@projo.com