Bengals Clear Rookie Erick All Jr. To Practice, Adjusting His Prospects for Making the 53-Man Roster

CINCINNATI – The timing wasn’t exactly what he was hoping for, but it still worked out nicely for Erick All Jr. and his family.

The rookie fourth-round pick passed his physical today, nine months after tearing his ACL, and was cleared to practice with the Cincinnati Bengals.

And as it turns out, a Sunday night practice means there is a caravan of family members without work conflicts making the 30-minute drive down I-75 to watch All’s first NFL practice.

Erick All Jr. Expecting Big Cheering Section for Return to Practice

“I just got a text from my mom,” All said before practice. “I had to get them all on the list. They’re excited. They’re coming.”

All said he’s been feeling good since April and was encouraged by his on-field work with Bengals director of rehab Nick Cosgray during OTAs.

When he reported to camp with the rest of the rookies on July 20, he was hoping he’d be cleared to practice on Day 1.

And when he wasn’t …

“I was hurt. But it’s all good now.”

We have made the following transaction:

TE Erick All Jr. has passed a physical and is cleared to practice

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) July 28, 2024

When he didn’t pass his physical upon reporting, All said he was expecting a much longer journey to clearance.

And Sunday’s news caught him by surprise.

“I wasn’t expecting it all,” he said. “I was thinking I was gonna get cleared later down the road, like a month from now or something. That was just because I’m right at nine months. And nine months is usual for just a normal ACL, but I did ACL plus other stuff, too.”

So it was a thrill to find out he was going to be able to practice today.

“Oh, yeah. Heck yeah,” he said. “I was out at walk-through moving around, running. Everybody else is just walking. It’s exciting.”

The physical part of recovery is only part of the process. The mental aspect, trusting the knee will hold up when planting and cutting, can be just as taxing.

But All said he’s felt confident in the knee since he started running routes and cutting in April.

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The next step is feeling confident in his knowledge of the playbook. He’s been diving in with plenty of time on his hands. But All said he’s a hands-on type of learner, so it’s been a tough few months trying to retain everything.

“Looking at the plays and stuff, it’s different when you’re not out there running the plays,” he said. “That’s how I’ve always learned a playbook, by actually going out there and doing it. Looking at the plays and not doing it kind of felt like I was in school, which was kind of hard just remembering everything. But now that I’m actually about to be doing the reps, the night before studying-wise is going to be different for sure.”

All joins a crowded tight end room that includes fellow rookie Tanner McLachlan, a sixth-round pick, free-agent signing Mike Gesicki, and the top two returners in Drew Sample and Tanner Hudson.

There was some speculation this could be a redshirt year for him given the severity of the injury he’s rehabbing and the number of tight ends on the roster.

But getting cleared ahead of the fourth practice of training camp suggests All will have a chance to make the 53-man roster.

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By practicing, it means he’s not eligible to start the season on the non-football injury list or the physically unable to perform list.

That means the Bengals will have to carry him on the initial 53-man roster or risk having him claimed on waivers after cutdown day.