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Notes: Gresham, Eifert ailing but expected for camp; Bengals add tackle depth with Burden

Updated: 9:10 p.m.

It's believed that tight end Jermaine Gresham has an injury that won't prevent him from being ready for Bengals training camp in late July.

Gresham didn't work again Tuesday, the fourth of nine voluntary practices, and indications are he won't be in the remaining five or the three-day mandatory minicamp June 10-12. Tyler Eifert, the other starting tight end, is out with a shoulder injury that is not related to the stinger that limited him to three snaps in last year's playoff game and it's unclear when he'll return.

"It's more of a feel thing. It's not a serious injury," Eifert said.

Head coach Marvin Lewis wouldn't elaborate but said he expects both to be ready for training camp. He said Gresham said has been on the premises rehabbing.

"He's just not out here because he's not practicing. He's doing what he has to do," Lewis said.

OT ADDED:Chandler Burden and the Bengals are neighbors but they don't know each other all that well. After his first practice Tuesday, Burden sat in one of the temporary metal lockers with no name looking up at the lockers of the two tacklers he's suddenly backing up, Andrew Whitworth and Andre Smith.

"I was a Bengals and Reds fan growing up, but I played a lot of sports and didn't watch much,' Burden said. "I did watch Whitworth and he's pretty good to say the least. I'm looking forward to watching him and learning from him."

The 6-4, 310-pound Burden came out of Kentucky as a free agent two years ago and he's now on his fourth team after the Chiefs released him last week following a half-year stint on Kansas City's practice squad. He played at Cincinnati's La Salle High School while growing up in Oxford, Hamilton, and Blue Ash.

What the Bengals did know when they worked him out Monday is that they needed depth at tackle even before Smith didn't practice Tuesday for an undisclosed reason. That put Marshall Newhouse at right tackle. Left guard Tanner Hawkinson can move to left tackle behind Whitworth, but there was no one else until Burden arrived.

And what Burden knows about the Bengals are their tackles.

"Since he came from Alabama, I used to watch tape of Andre when I was in college and then I kept watching him when he came to the Bengals," Burden said. "He's explosive, powerful, he's real quick for how big he is."

He figures to be getting plenty of snaps when the Bengals try not to pound on their big men in training camp.

"It's kind of weird," Burden said. "My dream was always to be in the NFL, but I never dreamed I'd be with the Bengals."

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