Marvin Lewis offers clarity on Bengals injuries

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said he hopes the team has reached its low point in terms of the run of injuries that have affected the first week of training camp.

Lewis said first-round pick William Jackson will have surgery to re-attach his torn pectoral muscle and that there is hope the cornerback could return to play at some point this season.

“He’s going to have a surgery this is going to re-attach his pectoral muscle, but we anticipate that he has an opportunity still to play this football season,” Lewis said. “It’s just a matter of how his body heals. He had a little more glide in his stride this morning because he sees some light at the end of the tunnel.”

Cornerback Darqueze Dennard is only expected to miss about a week with a sprained ankle, while Lewis said he expects tight end Tyler Kroft to be ready for the start of the season.

Jackson and Dennard suffered their injuries Monday, while Kroft went down late in Tuesday’s practice.

There also was some positive news with linebacker Vontaze Burfict being cleared to practice after beginning camp on the Active/Non-Football Injury list. And tight end Tyler Eifert was walking around the locker room without the protective boot he’s been wearing since undergoing ankle surgery in May.

“We’ve kind of hit the gambit now — soft tissue, concussion, we’ve got it all going on,” Lewis said. “Hopefully this will be our low point and we’ll continue to get healthier as we go. It is part of playing football. Unfortunately some of the guys get hurt. You put the roster together as best as you can to try and be ready for those and you just knock on wood and hopefully we don’t get too many in one position.”

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