Bengals Move Tyler Eifert to the PUP List
By Zach Appel
The Bengals Tyler Eifert was said this morning to be put on the PUP list to start camp today, and we as Bengals’ fans should not be surprised.
The 2018-2019 training camp kicked off yesterday for the Bengals. What a time to be alive, right?! Well, here is a bit of news you might be tired of hearing year after year: Tyler Eifert has officially been moved to the Physically Unable to Perform list (PUP). The season hasn’t even started yet and we are hearing bad news. Of course, for any optimistic Bengals fan, that is never good. Here is what was first reported by Ian Rapoport.
"#Bengals TE Tyler Eifert, who tweaked his back in the spring, is expected to begin training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list, source said. He did recently tweet he was feeling good. -Ian Rapoport @RapSheet"
That certainly does not sound good to a Bengals’ fans ears, but lets go over some reasons for optimism. The other “Tyler” should bring some stability to the tight end position. Tyler Kroft totaled 404 yards and 7 touchdowns on 42 recpetions last season. That’s more than plenty of production from a guy we didn’t know all that much about coming into last season. We can expect more from him this season if Eifert is unable to play.
Next we have CJ Uzomah, who was hurt most of last season. He only recorded 10 catches for 92 yards and a score. He will mostly serve as depth and a change-of-pace guy for both Tylers and I would expect to see him in on a lot of special team snaps. Also, when healthy, you will see TE/FB Ryan Hewitt catch some passes, mostly on dump offs in the flats as a check down. However, he doesn’t seem like a guy to go up and get a ball on a seam or a fly route, as much as Bengals fans wish he could.
The final question a lot of people have about Eifert seem to revolve around his new deal he signed this off-season. The Bengals did not just simply hand the guy $8.5 million. Instead, they laced his contract with tons of incentives based upon his play on the field. The big note here is, he can’t receive any of that if he doesn’t play, so that was a relatively smart move by the Bengals front office in negotiations. Eifert will earn a $3 million signing bonus for just putting pen to paper, but here is the incentive breakdown as noted by Jim Owczarski. This was also brought to you by one of our own here at Stripe Hype.
"We knew Tyler Eifert can earn up to $8.5M this yr w/ the #Bengals – and now we know how his incentives break down: 50 to 65 catches can earn him $250K-$1M 500 to 650 yards: $250K-$1M 5 to 8 TDs: $250K – $1M -Jim Owczarski (@jimowczarski) cin.ci/2IpGAA2"
At the end of the day us Bengals fans should hold optimism that Eifert will be ready to go week 1, and I don’t see that as unreasonable. He has been a monster on the field when healthy and could propel this offense to new heights, especially with the new revamped playbook we will see this season. Rest assured that even if Eifert is 100% going into the season you will still see plenty of Tyler Kroft – the kid has earned that. Whodey!