CINCINNATI -- The Bengals placed tight end Tyler Kroft on injured reserve on Friday, ending his season several weeks after he broke a bone in his foot against the Dolphins on Oct. 7.

The reason behind the delay was the hope that Kroft could eventually come back this season if everything went right. But it was clear after Kroft remained in a walking boot several weeks later that things weren't progressing as they had hoped.

Kroft said he met with numerous doctors and specialists to try to figure out a solution but also indicated in October that everything needed to go perfectly to plan for him to be able to come back.

"It's been weird," Kroft said on Oct. 24. "It started the first day. We thought something was going to happen, and the next day comes around, and we're ... it's evolving every week, honestly. We're trying to keep that in mind, and we're doing everything we can to come back this year and not prolong it."

Kroft stayed in the game after his injury occurred despite hearing a "pop" that indicated a bone was broken.

"We knew what had happened to it and felt like I could push through it and go," he said.

Kroft is the fourth Bengals tight end to go down following Cethan Carter (shoulder) in training camp, Tyler Eifert (broken ankle) in September and Mason Schreck (knee) in October.

"Coming into the year we thought we were a pretty deep position group. It's awful how snake-bitten we've been this year," he said.

The Bengals promoted tight ends Jordan Franks off their practice squad on Oct. 23. and Matt Lengel off the Texans practice squad on Oct. 10. Eifert, who is out for the season, was still in a walking boot and on crutches as of Friday.

Linebacker Brandon Bell was promoted off the practice squad in Kroft's place due to injuries to Preston Brown, Vontaze Burfict and Nick Vigil.