If the Bengals were to put out an injury report right now, there would be quite a few names on it, most of them being key players.
Tight end Jermaine Gresham is the latest name to be added to the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list with a back injury. Earlier in the offseason, Geoff Hobson reported Gresham sustained an injury that ended up holding him out of Organized Team Activities.
ESPN's field Yates later reported Gresham has hernia surgery.
Hopefully, this injury that won't affect Gresham's availability for training camp. He's on the final year of his rookie deal, and needs to have a big season to ensure he gets a good contract offer from either the Bengals or another NFL club.
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Gresham is coming off career-lows in receptions (46), receiving yards (458) and touchdowns (4) in 2013. Cincinnati spent the 21st-overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft on Notre Dame TE Tyler Eifert, so they have Gresham's replacement lined up if he leaves, though they'd prefer to keep using their 2-TE sets with Gresham and Eifert.
To this point, there have been no indications the Bengals are working to re-sign him. That could be because of negotiations with Vontaze Burfict and Andy Dalton though.
As of now, Orson Charles, Eifert and Alex Smith are the other TEs on the roster. With Gresh's addition to the PUP list, that now makes 11 players currently on that list with some sort of injury.
UPDATE: Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com reports that it's a back issue that landed Gresham on the Active PUP. The hernia problem that hampered his ability to participate in OTAs doesn't seem to be the culprit. We haven't heard too much on Gresham's back until now, so one can only assume that it is a tweak. Still, anything with a back is tricky and must be handled carefully.
For now, we are chalking this up to the team being uber-careful after taking one on the chin back in 2010 with wide receiver Antonio Bryant. The team needs to be absolutely certain that a player is ready to practice before throwing them out there, as they would lose the ability to put them back on the PUP if they end up still having injury issues. Only playing through the pain and Injured Reserve would be options, if that were the case. We'll update you as we find out more on the severity of Gresham's injury.
(Anthony Cosenza contributed to this report.)