<
        >

          NFL Nation

          Midway through season, Bengals' health has been of little concern

          • Katherine Terrell, ESPN Staff WriterNov 10, 2016, 12:00 PM
            Close
              Katherine Terrell came back to ESPN to cover the New Orleans Saints in the summer of 2022. She left the company in 2019 after joining in 2016 to cover the Cincinnati Bengals. Katherine is a graduate of LSU and a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native, and she has covered the NFL since 2013. You can follow Katherine on Twitter: @Kat_Terrell
            Follow on X

          CINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati Bengals have plenty of problems to fix as they gear up for the second part of their reason.

          Luckily for them, injuries don't appear to be one of those concerns.

          The Bengals' biggest question right now in that department is whether they want to bring running back Cedric Peerman or cornerback William Jackson III back from injured reserve; a decision on activating defensive lineman Brandon Thompson from the physically unable to perform list looms, too.

          The Bengals have essentially been at full strength on their active roster all season outside of tight end Tyler Eifert, who missed the first six games with back and ankle injuries.

          During Tuesday's practice, only defensive lineman Michael Johnson and receiver James Wright sat out, while linebacker Rey Maualuga was not in attendance for reasons defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said were unrelated to injury.

          That means the Bengals will likely be at full strength again Monday, and that could make for some tough decisions on the inactive list now that Wallace Gilberry has been re-signed and is expected to play against the New York Giants.

          "It's going to be a hard decision to make," Guenther said Tuesday. "We'll make that decision at the end of the week, whatever direction we think helps us win on Monday and whoever we think helps us to win the next Sunday and so on and so forth. But it's a good problem to have; it's a problem I like to have."

          The Bengals' most injured inactives this season has been at two, an unusually low number. In most weeks, the healthy inactives have been quarterback Jeff Driskel, wide receiver Cody Core (his status is tied to whether James Wright is healthy), offensive lineman Christian Westerman, cornerback KeiVarae Russell, defensive tackle DeShawn Williams and cornerback Chykie Brown. Tight end C.J. Uzomah was inactive against the Redskins in Week 8 and will likely remain that way with Eifert back.

          If Guenther follows through with his intentions to give some younger players playing time over struggling veterans, that could mean more surprise healthy inactives along the way.