Bengals' Leon Hall cleared to practice, meets recovery goal from Achilles tear

The question of the day as Cincinnati opened training camp was if CB Leon Hall would take part in the first practice. He tore his Achilles Nov. 13 against Pittsburgh and since meeting with Director of Rehabilitation Nick Cosgray the next day, the goal was set to take part in the opening of the 2012 camp.

On Friday, he was cleared.

“I have been pretty much cleared to do everything,” said Hall, 27, the Bengals top corner who signed a five-year contract extension last season. “We are going to monitor how many reps I get in a row, basically, but it is a little easier now because we only have one practice a day. It just makes it easier as far as me practicing as much as I can. I'm pretty much full-go. I set the goal that I wanted and we were able to reach it."

Amid a Bengals secondary dealing with an abdominal issue for Nate Clements and knee injury to first-round pick Dre Kirkpatrick, Hall's health brings a shining light of optimism. With passing the physical comes another box checked off on Hall's journey back to where he was before planting his foot against the Steelers. This isn't the final box, though.

“No, the last thing is to practice well,” he said. “I'm still going to be doing my stuff with Nick. You've got to balance it a little bit in your down time. (For the first time) I'll be working with receivers. I will do the individual stuff I've been doing. Once we get into team periods and one-on-ones, that will be different.”

Stay dialed in on the Cincinnati Bengals on Twitter at @CBSSportsNFLCIN throughout the season with on-site updates from CBSSports.com RapidReports correspondent Paul Dehmer, Jr.