Bengals Geno Atkins and Leon Hall "should participate" in training camp

It's always tricky when prognosticating the return of players who suffered significant injuries during the previous season. Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins is recovering from an ACL tear and cornerback Leon Hall is rehabilitating from his second Achilles tear in three years.

According to Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, both should be able to practice during training camp this year.

"They’re in the building every day," Guenther said via the Cincinnati Enquirer. "Typically I’ll go down in the mornings to visit the guys just because it’s quiet down there. It’s just them. I’m sure the rehab isn’t the funnest end for those guys but from what I understand, talking to trainers, they’re coming along pretty good. They’re doing everything they’re asking them to do, so I don’t see any setbacks, at least to this point, with either guy. I expect both of them to be back (in training camp)."

Of course, based on the wording, this doesn't mean that they'll be ready at the start of training camp -- only that they should participate. However, training camp is roughly 2-3 weeks in duration. On the other hand, predicting recoveries from major injuries in February is a bit tricky -- especially when coaches are the sources for our updates.

Two weeks ago a report surfaced that both players were on schedule for training camp, without any setbacks at this point so at least this is consistent with previous updates.

As a sidenote, Atkins and Hall have the two biggest cap numbers for the Bengals in 2014, with $9 million and $8.7 million respectively -- so losing those players were costly, on and off the field. Carlos Dunlap has the third highest number at $8.6 million and A.J. Green has the top cap number for the offense at $6.264 million.