The Bengals placed Burfict on the Active/Non-Football Injury list prior to the start of the first practice July 26, and while he had been present at every practice, he was mostly a spectator other than some rehab work on the side field.
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After passing his physical Monday morning, Burfict wasnât a full participant in his first practice, sitting out some of the drills later in the session, but he was more active than he thought he might be.
And he admitted his conditioning isnât where it needs to be, which was evident when he took a break from one of the first periods of individual drills â where one linebacker would try to punch the ball free from the grip of another â after just two reps.
âItâs not there yet,â Burfict said of his conditioning. âI was running like five plays in a row. I hope I donât have to run five plays. I kind of want to do three-and-out when I go out there.
â(Individual drills) is probably the hardest thing, because itâs non-stop, but other than that I feel pretty good,â he said. âIt felt good just to be out there with my teammates. I was kind anxious to go out there and communicate with Preston (Brown), just to get a feel for him and see how we play with pads on and under duress.â
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It will be nine more weeks before Burfict gets to play under true duress in the regular season due to his four-game suspension for violating the leagueâs policy on performance-enhancing substances.
Burfict is eligible to play in the preseason games, but head coach Marvin Lewis has declined to say whether he will. Two years ago when Burfict was facing a three-game suspension following his hit against Pittsburghâs Antonio Brown in the AFC wildcard game, Lewis didnât play Burfict in any preseason games.
Last year when Burfict drew a five-game suspension for a hit on Kansas Cityâs Anthony Sherman in the second preseason game, which later was reduced to three games, the linebacker still played in the third preseason game before sitting out the fourth one with all of the other starters.
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Burfict said he wants to play and thinks it would be helpful if he does.
âI would say itâs important just to be out there with my teammates,â Burfict said. âBut even when Iâm not out there Iâm going to be on the sideline being a coach for some of the young guys. But it is important for me to play. Iâm pretty sure the Bengals and (team owner and president) Mr. (Mike) Brown will make sure Iâm ready to go before I get out there and not hurt anything.â
While Burfict hasnât been on the field since camp began, he took part in OTAs and minicamp and has been present for all meetings as new coordinator Teryl Austin overhauls the defense.
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Burfict said heâs excited about the changes but admitted he struggled some with them Monday.
âI didnât feel that comfortable and confident because itâs my first day,â he said. âI didnât want to have too many mental errors. I didnât have any today. That was my thing. I wanted to come out and make sure I got everything correct, my line assignments correct and stuff like that. I think I did a great job of that other than just competing and running to the ball.â
Here are some other observations from Day 10 of Bengals camp:
After the rough mock game in which four of his snaps hit the ground, rookie center Billy Price didnât have a bad one Monday. ⌠Wide receiver John Ross, who also had a rough mock game with two drops, dropped an easy 10-yard pass from position coach Bob Bicknell during individual drills early in practice. ⌠Linebacker Brandon Bell intercepted an Andy Dalton pass that was a bit high and went off the hands of running Giovani Bernard. ⌠Quarterback Jeff Driskel went from good to bad in a span of two plays, hitting wide receiver Jared Murphy with a well-place thrown on a deep seam before missing a wide-open KaâRaun White on a deep ball on the next snap, floating the ball well out of bounds. ⌠Wide receiver Cody Core had an impressive one-handed catch early in practice and a touchdown late, both in 11-on-11 drills, but he also dropped an easy catch in 7-on-7. ⌠Kicker Randy Bullock went 6 for 6, with his two longest coming from 46 yards.
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