Poll: Did Bengals make the right move keeping Tyler Eifert?

Tyler Eifert is back with the Bengals.

On Thursday, the team signed the Pro Bowl tight end to a one-year deal, which is said to max out at $8 million. It includes a base salary of around $5.5 million, as well as incentives based on playing time, catches, yards and touchdowns.

Eifert is one of the game’s best tight ends when healthy, but his long history of injury concerns has made him a very big risk to bring back. After dislocating his elbow in the first game of the 2014 season, Eifert later had surgery that knocked him out for the rest of the year.

In 2015 he experienced a concussion and stinger, which cost him three games, then suffered an ankle injury in the 2016 Pro Bowl, which led to offseason surgery that caused him to miss the start of the 2016 season. He missed four games due to the ankle injury before missing two more games with a back strain he suffered in practice leading up to Week 5.

This past season, a back injury led to him being placed on season-ending injured reserve. He later had back surgery and a minor procedure on his knee, but he says he’s now cleared for offseason workouts.

When healthy, Eiert has racked up 127 catches for 1,527 yards and 20 touchdowns in just 39 games. He’s a touchdown machine that makes this Bengals offense one that can challenge any opposing defense.

There’s really no question Eifert is a game-changer when healthy, but was this a smart move by the Bengals?

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