"Receiver Hines Ward's offseason thumb surgery could keep him on the Physically Unable to Perform list for an extended stretch of training camp.

"The proper time of recovering from a thumb injury, I think I am a week or two away from that," Ward said Friday.

He had thumb surgery June 1 to repair a ligament injury he suffered last season; recovery time is usually two months. Ward is not permitted to practice until his is removed from the PUP list.

? Tackle Tony Hills signed his exclusive rights free agent offer and will report to camp. He won't be able to practice until Thursday, the first day of the new NFL calendar.

? Running back Rashard Mendenhall declined to talk about tweets he made about Osama bin Laden in May. "

I'm really not going back into that," he said.

? Defensive end Aaron Smith finally came clean, saying he never was going to play in Super Bowl XLV even though he wasn't ruled out until just before the game.

"I just got to the point where the risks were just too much," he said. "(The decision) was probably made earlier than you were told."

Smith said his repaired triceps is 100 percent.

? Some teammates are holding out hope that Chris Hoke will be re-signed.

"Hopefully, Hoke will still come in," fellow nose tackle Casey Hampton said. "Hopefully, he will be here.""