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Hawkins won't speculate if he'd be active for the game, but he figures whatever advantage he has if he plays is countered by his time on the shelf with a severely sprained ankle.
"I don't think you get that much of an advantage," Hawkins said before Thursday's practice. "In one aspect I guess (fresh legs) would be an advantage. In another aspect they have eight games under their belt and this is my first game, preseason or not. It goes both ways."
But he's encouraged how the ankle bounced back Thursday morning and while he had some soreness throughout his body, Hawkins said there was nothing "alarming" since it was expected after not practicing for three months.
He's getting ready to join a corps that is much deeper than the one he left. He finished last season as Cincinnati's second-leading wide receiver to A.J. Green with 51 catches for 533 yards and now there are five receivers other than Green on pace to get within seven yards of that total.
Two of them are tight ends, one is a running back and two are wide receivers; Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu. Jones is on pace for 565 yards with 37 catches and Sanu is projected for 526 yards with 55 catches. The 5-7, 180-pound Hawkins is considered the fastest of the lot.
"If I didn't bring anything to the table I wouldn't be here," he said. "We all have something we're good at. That's why we're here.
The Bengals have three weeks from this past Wednesday to make a call on Hawkins for the rest of the year. Hawkins ended up on injured reserve-recall when he went diving for a ball in an Aug. 1 practice.
Meanwhile, Jones missed practice for a second-straight day with an injured shoulder. His availability could be determined by tomorrow's practice.
Running back Rex Burkhead (calf), who was limited Wednesday, didn't go Thursday.