The Bengals reported to training camp Thursday in front of the 2 p.m. opening meeting at Paul Brown Stadium and there's no question the happiest man in the room is going to be defensive tackle Devon Still.
Still is in the fight of his football career to make the roster, but he's been emboldened by the news earlier this week that daughter Leah has been declared cancer-free.
I spent last year showing everybody the type of father I was and the type of person I was," Still said, "and now it's time to show everybody what type of football player I am." Five-year-old Leah had some grown-up advice for her dad before he got on the plane for camp:
"Hold it down."
Still followed through in the last month when it came to his weight, he held it down to 295 pounds. "I lost about 27 pounds, but I feel like I gained 50 pounds," he said. "I feel good, man. I'm finally healthy mentally and physically and I'm just ready to get back to playing football." ...
With James Wright done for the season with a knee injury, the Bengals are looking for camp bodies and signed college free agent Desmond Lawrence after he was released back in May by the Lions. He's a track guy that can really run. Word is he ran under 4.4 seconds in the 40-yard dash during his Thursday morning workout and he'll be trying to run down a spot on the practice squad...
Right end Margus Hunt, who injured his lower back in the offseason and missed all the spring drills, won't practice when the Bengals get underway Friday in a 3 p.m. workout. But he's confident he'll play in at least one preseason game and hopefully more than that. Plus he'll go through Thursday's conditioning test and says he's at about 80 percent.
"If not even more," Hunt said. "I've been working out really good for a while now. Just stuff in here is kind of different from what happens on the field."
