Rookie center Connor Lew has to wait a little longer for his unofficial NFL debut after the Cincinnati Bengals held him out of their preseason opener last week, but so far, his return from 2025 ACL surgery is going about as planned.
The fourth-round draft pick out of Auburn tore his ACL last October, ending his season after seven games. He was hopeful after the draft that he would be 100 percent by training camp and that proved to be the case.
Lew passed his pre-camp physical and was cleared for full participation but was slowly eased into activities. He started with mostly individual drills, worked his way into 11-on-11s and received his first reps with the starters last week in practice. Now he is easing back into games, but it's unclear what the plans will be for this week with the joint practice against the Chicago Bears on Thursday and their preseason game Saturday.
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Complete Cincinnati Bengals Coverage
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Cincinnati Bengals: BJ Hill returns to practice, provides boost to defensive line
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"We kind of have this training camp and the preseason how we wanted it to work out," Lew said. "We're just sticking to that plan, and it's really just day-to-day, 'How do we feel?' And you know, I think I started the first day of camp with like three reps, and they're like, 'Okay, how's that feeling?' So, it's just we're doing it slowly, but the right way, and I'm gonna get my opportunity out there, so I'm excited."
Lew said the Bengals helped him progress in his rehab during the offseason workout program, so he remained confident he could be ready for this season, but it was still a relief to be cleared for the start of training camp.
The Bengals are counting on Lew as their backup to Ted Karras , and he could be Karras' successor, as well. Karras, a 10-year veteran, is 33 years old and in the last year of his contract, and Lew was considered a first- or second-round prospect before his injury.
If the pick pans out, Cincinnati might have gotten a steal. Lew, drafted at age 20, established himself as one of the top up-and-coming linemen in the SEC, playing 25 collegiate games, as a three-year starter and 2025 team captain for the Tigers.
Lew said his transition to the NFL so far has been smooth. He looks forward to soon being able to show that in a game.
"It's good from a knee perspective," Lew said. "From a mental perspective as a center, learning the offense and physically, I mean, camp's been going well and hopefully it just keeps getting better."
Although anxious to get back out on the field in a game situation, Lew said he took a lot from the opportunity to slide in next to Dylan Fairchild and Dalton Risner for the first time last week. He said afterward that Amarius Mims even told him coming off the field that he didn't realize Lew had been out there with them.
Lew dropped one snap, which he said is unusual for him, but if his fellow linemen didn't notice him, it means he did OK.
"It was the best," Lew said. "The thing is, especially as a rookie, you don't know how many opportunities you're going to get like that with the ones, especially in a practice setting, so just, you know, now we have the clips on film, we'll watch it and learn from it. So keep building off of that."
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There's a fine line between trying to push himself and overdoing it, though, so Lew has to be careful to listen to his body and what the trainers are telling him. Some days they do push him when he's feeling ready for it, and other days they back off the workload to keep that balance.
As far as learning the Bengals offense and what to expect from NFL defensive linemen, Karras has been a "tremendous help."
"I mean, there's a million things off the field, and when it comes to football, though, like the biggest thing he said before I went out with the ones was just like, 'Be yourself and be definitive. You know what you're doing.' Obviously, if I didn't, they wouldn't be putting me out there, so just kind of just trusting the process and just going out there for yourself."
"I mean it's a different game out there with these defensive linemen, and you can't back down. I'm a competitor, so I want to go out there compete and show that. With the limited reps I did get, I wanted to go prove that I can stack up."
Lew will get his chance to do that soon enough in a real game.
