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Under the heading of foregone conclusions, the Cincinnati Bengals will be placing Leon Hall on Injured Reserve, according to ESPN NFL Insider Chris Mortensen.
No surprise but Bengals will place CB Leon Hall of season-ending Injured reserve after he tore his Achilles on Sunday. Significant loss
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) October 21, 2013
This comes after a scheduled MRI confirmed the injury on Monday.
It was believed that Hall was heading to IR as soon as the team announced that he wouldn't return to the game against the Lions with an Achilles. Based on his reaction and postgame comments from coaches and teammates, the feeling was that Hall was clearly done for the season.
There is no designation for this one. Hall is done for the year.
If we compare Hall's recovery to his left Achilles tear against the Steelers on Nov. 13, 2011, then we can expect that Hall will be ready for training camp next year. Even a month after having surgery to repair his Achilles, he was already doing light running and jumping. By March he was backpedaling.
"In six weeks I made a lot of inroads," Hall said in March '12. "Having cleats on and getting back on the field, I'm encouraged by that. I'm still not where I want to be four months in but it does feel good when I am running, backpedaling and doing side-to-side stuff."
Hall practiced during the first day at training camp, so he avoided the PUP list. But there will be a period of acclimation as he gets used to his surgically repaired Achilles.
"I felt rusty for sure, but my Achilles felt fine," Hall said after his first practice at the opening of training camp last year. "I felt like I was able to move and cut and break and everything how I wanted to. But my technique was definitely rusty, which I’ll get that worked out."
Boy, did he. Especially late in the season.
His interception against the Philadelphia Eagles in week 15 gave a sleep-walking organization enough motivation to mount a comeback, which resulted in a comfortable win. His pick-six against the Steelers quickly gave Cincinnati a 7-0 lead during a game that clinched a postseason berth and his pick-six against the Houston Texans was Cincinnati's lone touchdown in the playoffs.
Despite losing him for this year, Hall's work ethic, motivation, and dedication should put him on pace to resume his duties as Cincinnati's best cornerback by training camp.