Hawkins encouraged after Wednesday's practice

For the second time in as many days, Bengals wide receiver Andrew Hawkins suited up with teammates to practice. Despite running routes with his teammates during pregame activities prior to the Browns game in Cleveland and Lions game in Detroit, Hawkins practiced for the first time on Wednesday.

And things are going well.

But he's encouraged how the ankle bounced back Thursday morning and while he had some soreness throughout his body he said there was nothing "alarming," since it was expected after not practicing for three months.

Hawkins is eligible to play his first game against the Miami Dolphins next Thursday, but it seems that he's still not completely comfortable until he's "just letting it go."

"It's getting to the point where you're just letting it go," Hawkins said via Bengals.com. "That's a milestone and from there I'm comfortable on the practice field and I'm able to take it to the game. It's a little bit of a process."

Cincinnati has three weeks from the moment he began practicing on Wednesday before his roster exemption expires.