Bengals' Margus Hunt unsure when he will return

The Cincinnati Bengals and Margus Hunt are still in a holding pattern when it comes to seeing what the former second-round pick can do when fully healthy, as the 28-year-old defensive end will begin training camp on the active/physically unable to perform (PUP) list due to a lingering back injury.

"We're at the point right now where I can't really take part in the team activities yet," Hunt said. "But it's a day-to-day basis, so as of right now I'm planning on playing in the regular season."

Like teammates Vontaze Burfict and Sean Porter, who are also starting training camp on the active PUP list, Hunt counts against the team's roster limit and can be activated to practice as soon as he is medically cleared.

But, that time isn't coming in the foreseeable future – even though he knows he needs to be on the field to secure a spot on the 53-man roster.

"Obviously. We have a lot of great players here," he said. "It'll be a very competitive camp. All I have is a little setback. But I just feel that if I go out there and do what I know I've been doing and that can do and all that stuff, I definitely feel positive about being still part of this team."

While he says he's pain free, Hunt said he considers himself at 80 percent healthy due to his strength and conditioning.

"I was expecting and hoping to be back obviously sooner and be healthy right now," Hunt said. "But I will be taking part of the conditioning testing trying to see where I'm at with that and we'll go from there and working back as soon as I can."

He said the timeline for his return to football activities moved back as the rehab progressed, but he wouldn't specifically state that he suffered any sort of setback, only allowing that he is proceeding through the rehab process cautiously.

As for the preseason, Hunt feels he will "definitely" take part during the exhibition slate, but he wouldn't pick a game.

"That's not known yet," he said. "Like I said, it's a day-to-day basis right now. We'll try to be back as soon as possible. But we're not trying to rush it as much. But it's definitely feeling a lot more comfortable being able to do stuff and being able to have a two-hour workout without having a setback or having any pain or issues or any of that. It's a good feeling. I feel really positive about being back sooner rather than later."

Hunt played in 12 games last year, but recorded just one sack. He missed four games due to an ankle injury, but admitted he played through bruised ribs suffered in Week 1 in Baltimore and a knee injury suffered in Week 3.

He chuckled though, knowing how he's perceived.

"I was called injury prone a lot," he said. "But it was all these injuries and hits that kept happening that were; it wasn't anything to do with me being weak.

"It's just stuff like that. But, kept battling through it. This is football. Everybody gets hurt. It's not a safe sport so to speak. It's just a mindset of battling through it and getting better and just doing what they basically tell you to do. I feel good."