CINCINNATI -- Before Devon Still boarded a plane from Philadelphia to Cincinnati last week, daughter Leah said three words to her father: "Hold it down."
As Still prepared to take off for another training camp with the Cincinnati Bengals, the 5-year-old girl who recently overcame pediatric cancer implored her father to handle business, too.
According to Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, it appears he's been doing just that.
"He looks good. He's in good shape," Guenther said Monday. "He's probably in the best shape he's been since he's been here. He's a man on a mission; he's trying to win a spot on the team just like these other guys, and he's doing pretty good so far."
It was this time last year that Still was going through training camp with the earliest days of Leah's cancer fight beating him down. At the same time his mind was fixated on the uncertainty of her health, his body was slowly recovering from back and elbow injuries he had months before. He also suffered a hamstring injury near the end of 2014's training camp.
With all of that as a backdrop, he failed to make the 53-man roster and was cut following the final preseason game. Two days after being cut, he was re-signed by the Bengals and added to their practice squad. The move allowed him to retain league health care to pay for Leah's treatments. It also gave him a chance to take a few days to try to get refocused on football before getting added again to the active roster.
All of that is a memory now. Some four months after Leah went into remission, Still is fully focused on making the team and staying on it this year.
"If I'm going to leave her [for training camp], I have to go out here with a purpose and do it for a reason," Still said at the start of camp. "She wants a big princess room in a newly built house, so I have to go get that for her."
Still spent the offseason training in Philadelphia near his native Delaware. It afforded him the opportunity to stay close to Leah, who was undergoing treatments at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His intense training and eating regimen while there helped Still go from 317 pounds to 295.
"Obviously, he had a lot on his mind last year, and he's coming in here and he's got a different mindset," Guenther said. "He's all about work, and his focus is on football. He'll have a chance to see what he can do in the preseason."
The Bengals' first preseason game is Aug. 14 at home against the Giants.