Chris Bell Camp Update — August 16: Running Full Speed, Not Yet Cutting

Chris Bell is still on the non-football injury list, and the most recent real look at his knee — back on August 5, per Antwan Staley at Athlon Sports, citing South Florida Sun Sentinel camp observations — had him catching passes and running at full speed for 10 to 15 yards before practice, but not yet cutting, and still working only with the trainers. Nothing newer surfaced this window, and he did not play in Friday's preseason opener. Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, in the same reporting: "I mean he's still a long way away. We haven't even had a chance as coaches to work with him aside from in the meeting room."

Quiet week, then, and for a rehabbing rookie that's neither the good version nor the bad one — it's just the clock running. So here's the June read, which for most listeners is new. Miami drafted Bell 90-fourth overall out of Louisville months after the November knee tear that ended his best college season, a bet on the tape made with the injury fully known. We said his situation was the strange inverse of most rookies: opportunity was never his problem, because Miami's receiver room was stripped to the studs, Tyreek Hill released, Jaylen Waddle traded. Availability was the whole question, and a knee rehab runs on the building's schedule, which the building itself wouldn't commit to. We refused to guess a date then, and the two things we said to watch were the reserve-list decision and the date of his first full contact.

Does the June read hold? UNCHANGED — straight-line running is progress, but he must pass a physical to come off the list, he isn't cutting, and the coaches still haven't worked with him on a field. Every downstream question about Chris Bell's rookie year still keys off a medical milestone that hasn't arrived.

Next week: any sign of cutting or change-of-direction work, and any reported date for the physical. We'll check next Sunday.

_Data via nflverse._