Bengals injury news: Tyler Eifert not running yet as he recovers from multiple surgeries

As the Cincinnati Bengals move closer toward the offseason, the status of Tyler Eifert remains murky at best.

Eifert, who is already on injured reserve, is recovering from multiple surgeries he’s undergone this season. He originally went on injured reserve due to back surgery, but he later had a cyst removed from his knee in November.

Those two operations have made Eifert’s rehabilitation a long process that’s bleeding into the offseason, and possibly his free agency in March.

On Monday, Eifert posted an update on his recovery, where he revealed that he’s not even running yet, though he is doing work on the rehab bike:

This season, Eifert played in Week 1-2 with one start and had four catches for 46 yards. He was inactive for Weeks 3-5 due to the back injury, which has since ended his season.

Eifert is set to become an unrestricted free agent in March. The Bengals do have the option to use the franchise tag on him, but after having multiple surgeries since the start of the regular season, it’s really hard to see them using it.

If Eifert has played his final game in Bengals stripes, he’ll finish out in Cincinnati with 127 catches for 1,527 yards and 20 touchdowns. But the theme of his time in Cincinnati will be the onslought of injuries suffered in his five years in the Queen City.

Eifert never managed to play a 16-game season in five years. By the end of this season, Eifert will have played in just 39 of a possible 80 games.