Cedric Ogbuehi will be among the most important players to watch this summer during training camp as he is expected to take on the vacant starting spot at right tackle, with former starter Andre Smith now on the Minnesota Vikings.
But, in Ogbeuhi's first chance to gain some practice time and experience this spring, he instead was sidelined throughout Organized Training Activities (OTAs) with an unknown injury. That's not exactly how you want a first-year starter to be spending his spring.
Now, we've gained some insight into what that injury was. Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson reported in his Hobson's Choice feature this week that Ogbuehi was sidelined with a "muscle problem" during OTAs.
The big move, of course, is 2015 first-round pick Cedric Ogbuehi replacing Andre Smith at right tackle. Ogbuehi missed the spring with a muscle problem, but it's believed he'll be there for the first practice of training camp.
While it remains unclear specifically what the muscle problem was, it's good to know that his injury wasn't related to his knee. Ogbuehi suffered an ACL tear during his final collegiate game, the Liberty Bowl, on December 29, 2014. That kept him on the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list to start last season, and cost him most of the year. Ogbuehi did play in five regular season games last year plus the Wild Card playoff loss.
As Hobson notes, Ogbuehi is expected to take part in training camp, which begins on Friday, July 29. We're just eight days away from the start of training camp, and let's face it, the return of football can't come soon enough.