Bengals' Tyler Eifert: 'There is no setback'

Paul Dehner Jr. | Cincinnati Enquirer

Show Caption Hide Caption WATCH: Paul and Jim review the first day of Bengals training camp WATCH: Paul and Jim review the first day of Bengals training camp.

Tyler Eifert gets it. He understands why Bengals fans and media were in an uproar when he landed on the Physically Unable to Perform list to open training camp on Thursday.

That means he wasn’t participating in the start of camp and will stay on that list until he is cleared in his return from his latest back surgery.

He knew when he showed up on the list, the frustrated reaction about his career riddled with injury would surface yet again. Reports came out he suffered a setback prior to minicamp, in which he did not participate last month. The setback word connected to him again as he landed on the list Thursday.

He’d like to set the record straight. This is just part of the process. There’s no reason to freak out.

“There is no setback,” Eifert said to The Enquirer. “I’m feeling good. This is just the route we chose to take.”

More importantly, does he think he will play Week 1 against Indianapolis?

“Yeah,” Eifert said, “100 percent.”

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He cut off a question assuming he was disappointed in missing the first day of camp. That wasn’t the case.

“I’m not disappointed because I feel good,” Eifert said. “I’m in as good of shape as I’ve been in in a long time. I’m running well and just wanted to be more on the conservative side. We don’t want to have any issues. We figured this would be the smartest way to move forward going into the year.”

Back in Cincinnati for training camp and feeling great! Camp is a grind but I’m looking forward to it! — Tyler Eifert (@tylereifert) July 23, 2018

And he’ll deal with the uproar from fans thinking this is just latest in an unfortunate line of injuries wrecking seasons for the Bengals tight end. After all, he’s played in 24 of 64 regular season games the last four seasons and signed an incentive-laden, one-year contract this past offseason. When healthy, he changes the dynamic of the Bengals offense, specifically in the red zone.

Uproar comes with the territory.

“It’s funny, we almost didn’t want to do this (PUP list) just because of all the media and drama that comes with it,” Eifert said. “But it doesn’t matter, we are doing what’s best for the team and me and so the thought of doing something so there is not an uproar is just insane.”

The plan is he’ll return to practice at some point, but feels certain about playing on opening day. He’s playing it conservative for now.

“Exactly,” Eifert said. “So, that’s the plan. That’s what’s going to happen. All this other noise is just that. It’s just noise.”