Earlier in the week, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis told reporters that he did not intend to player linebacker Vontaze Burfict during the preseason. Burfict, who will also not play in the team’s first three regular season games either due to suspension, was put on the Non-Football Injury list to begin training camp on Thursday.
The fifth-year linebacker has been limited to only 15 games over the course of the past two seasons, including 10 in 2015, stemming from a knee injury that required microfracture surgery to repair. The general speculation is that his stint on the NFI list is due to that, and is not believed to be serious.