Injury Update: Andre Smith On Road For Medical Clearence by Training Camp

Now that we know Rey Maualuga is oh-so-close to returning to the Bengals, hopefully being medically cleared by Tuesday, it's nice to note that we have another injury update on a guy that's been injured more than not. That guy? Andre Smith. You know the story. Andre Smith endears himself to blue-collar Cincinnati Bengals fans by holding out for a long, long, long, long time (Note: we have nothing against white-collar workers, there's just just a lot more blue than white... feel me?) Smith signs a contract and fractures his foot during non-contact drills soon afterward. Most of Cincinnati laughs uniformly -- either in disbelief or the fact it was non-contact, remains unknown.

During the offseason, after playing six games his rookie year, Smith has surgery in mid-February to clean-up his foot and to prevent a future break. He remained uncleared medically in early June and would go on to miss every offseason practice this year.

So we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Until now.

Word on right tackle Andre Smith is that he’s on the road to being cleared for that July 29 practice. Smith hasn’t been on the field since the playoff game back in January while he recovers from February surgery to finish off the healing of the broken bone in his foot that wiped out the first 10 games of his rookie year...

Smith was originally expected to be the team's starting right tackle before going MIA on the field, unable to practice while recovering much of the offseason after a healing process that took more time than originally expected.

Now? We're not so sure. I imagine that Dennis Roland and Anthony Collins have the inside track with Smith on the outside being forced to outwork and outperform both tackles. But that's why they have Training Camp and the Preseason.