Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew, the starter last season until he was injured, seems quite unaffected by the fact that the Lions traded for another starting tight end, Tony Scheffler, a few weeks ago.

“That’s a good deal. Two tights every down, force them to cover to two 6-5, 6-6 guys, it’s going to be tough,’’ Pettigrew said. Both he and Scheffler are listed as 6-foot-5.

The Lions told him about the trade after it had happened.

“It’s not big deal, stuff happens so fast around here,’’ Pettigrew said. “All I can do is what I can do. I’m going to do what I’m going to do, regardless.’’

Pettigrew is in no rush at all while rehabbing his knee after he tore his ACL on Thanksgiving in the loss to the Packers. It cut his promising rookie season short.

However, his knee has healed well enough that he was able to participate individual drills at the Organized Team Activities session on Thursday.

He said the trainers are not rushing him back. They want him to work on individual drills and then work him into training camp.

“I don’t know how much preseason I’m going to do. The deal is to try to be back that first (regular season) game,’’ Pettigrew said.

Coach Jim Schwartz said that Pettigrew and RB Kevin Smith, who also had ACL surgery, have progressed well in rehab with no setbacks.

(Follow me on Twitter @PaulaPasche.)