PUP or breakout? Rookie Erick All impresses at Bengals training camp

It seems like the hype around Cincinnati Bengals rookie tight end Erick All comes with a rocket ship.

Fans were undeniably hyped about All getting activated earlier than expected. The fourth-rounder carries massive upside despite the college injury history, so his activation was a nice bonus.

Still, on the day of All’s activation, Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com suggested that the rookie was a likely PUP candidate to start the season, especially after a conversation with head coach Zac Taylor, who brought up tight ends coach James Casey.

“There are still some things from a medical standpoint he can continue to do to strengthen it. So part of the plan is clearing him so that now he’s able to take walk-through reps and the above-the-neck stuff instead of standing back there by James,” Taylor said. “So he can actually get in there on some of the walk-through and jog-through stuff and as part of his rehab, get in on the routes on air. But we’ll be very slow to put him in any contact situation. Who knows? I’m not going to put any timeline on that.” …

But the idea All would be brought along slowly died on Tuesday.

There, All was right in the middle of the field making a tough catch in traffic — on the first day of padded work, via Fox 19’s Joe Danneman:

So…while the messaging around All has been a little mixed, it sure looks like he’s getting into gear just fine right after his activation.

And if things keep at this pace without issue, he certainly has the talent to make some noise on a quietly deep tight end depth chart headlined by Mike Gesicki, Drew Sample and Tanner Hudson.