Burfict: 'I feel good,' confident he'll be ready for Steelers

The progress has been steady, but slow for Vontaze Burfict.

The Cincinnati Bengals' Pro Bowl outside linebacker spent training camp on the field adjacent to the practice surfaces, working with Nick Cosgray, the team's director of rehabilitation.

"I feel good," Burfict told The Enquirer in his first interview this season. "I feel better than when I had the first 'scope. That's why I had to get the microfracture. But now I feel better than when I did before. So just keep going day-by-day and try and get to 100 percent."

After injuring his knee against Baltimore on Oct. 26, 2014, Burfict had an arthroscopic procedure days later, but the knee never felt quite right as he rehabbed. He was placed on injured reserve in December and eventually had microfracture surgery in January.

There has been a buildup to a return to the field for the 24-year-old linebacker, though, and it was enough to make head coach Marvin Lewis agonize over what to do with Burfict as the team had to formalize their 53-man roster last weekend.

The end result was a conversation between the coach and player, and the decision was made to put Burfict on the season-opening reserve-physical unable to perform (PUP) list.

He will be eligible to return to the field on Nov. 1 at Pittsburgh.

"It was simple – (Lewis) just sat me down, asked me how I felt, I told him how I felt, but he just feels I'm not all the way there in his eyes, that he's been watching me the last three weeks and there's slight things I need to work on," Burfict said.

"I was just going to focus on my lower body, and I'm just putting everything together now, and in seven weeks he thought it was going to be practical for me to get back on the field. Now I'm going through my own little training camp you could pretty much say."

On Saturday, Lewis said this about the thought process behind placing Burfict on the PUP: "When it's time – in six weeks – he's ready to go, 100 percent. He's got both the football-cardiovascular done, he's got the rehab done, and he's 100 percent going forward rather than trying to kind of fudge it in any way. Which is hard, because he has worked hard. We know what he means to the football team. It's a difficult thing to do for him."

Burfict couldn't say if he would have been ready to play in the home opener against San Diego on Sept. 20, or in any of the first six games, but he said there isn't any lingering frustration over the decision.

"I mean, it's a good and a bad thing to it because I always want to get on the field and play, just being competitive, but (Lewis) didn't want me to go out there and rush anything back and end up hurting something else," Burfict said.

"I understand that. It was just good thinking on him. He wants my career, not just one or two games. I'm looking forward to playing the Steelers, and that's my goal."

On his new timeline, Burfict can return to practice during the bye week following the game against Buffalo on Oct. 18. By being on PUP, Burfict can practice that entire week under a roster exemption to allow the Bengals to decide if he, indeed, can play against Pittsburgh.

"He’s got six weeks to get back hopefully he can get back to where we can get him back on the field," Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said. "If it happens it’s great. If doesn’t we’re going to go play. Toe is going to meet leather one way or another."

Should Burfict then cleared to return to the active roster, that will give him two full weeks of practice leading into the game at Heinz Field – though he is realistic about how much he will actually be able to do that week.

"I was planning on playing on game one (in Oakland), and it didn't happen, and now it's game seven, so I'm just getting my mind and body fully ready, getting conditioned," he said. "I'm pretty sure it's going to be a tough game. Who hasn't played in a year and come plays 70, 80 snaps in one game? So I'm just looking forward to contributing as much as I can."