The Cincinnati Bengals are heading into a pivot-point season for the franchise. They finally fired longtime coach Marvin Lewis after 16 seasons, and are transitioning into the first year of the Zac Taylor era. The Bengals were plagued by injuries last year, and Tyler Eifert was part of that story. The Bengals will need to stay healthy if they want Taylor's first season to be a success.
One player who will be crucial is tight end Tyler Eifert. Eifert has always been highly talented, but he's been unable to stay healthy in recent years. He played in only four games last year before going down with a gruesome ankle injury, but the Bengals believed in him enough to bring him back for 2019.
Eifert has been progressing well in his rehab, and declared himself mostly fully healthy recently.
“I'm doing pretty much everything,” Eifert said, per Fletcher Page of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “There's a couple things here and there but for the most part it's all doing everything with the guys.”
That's music to the ears of Bengals fans, who haven't seen a healthy Eifert in a while. He played in only two games in 2017, and eight the year before that. The last time he played anywhere close to a full season was in 2015. That year he was the best red-zone threat in the league, catching 13 touchdowns in only 13 games.
If he can get back to his old self, he'll be a dynamic weapon for Andy Dalton. Without him on the field the Bengals haven't gotten much out of their tight ends, and getting Eifert back would be huge. With Tyler Boyd, A.J. Green, Joe Mixon and Eifert in the fold, the Bengals could have a very dangerous group of skill position players this season.
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