Cincinnati Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert jogged for the first time since injuring his ankle in the Pro Bowl in January.

It was the next step in a long rehab process that followed surgery at the beginning of the summer. Though it’s a big one for Eifert, he was cautiously optimistic on Monday.

"A little bit," he said when asked if he was relieved to move forward. "But you’ve got to make sure you feel good while you’re running. You never really know how it’s going to respond. I just do what I'm told and I trust those guys in there."

Eifert spent Monday’s practice off to the side with a group of players also rehabbing. He and cornerback Darqueze Dennard, who has a sprained ankle, put on gloves and boxed with an athletic trainer, moving their feet around in the process.

Eifert is still hoping to return for Week 1 against the Jets, although he said he realizes he still has a long way to go.

Eifert said there hasn’t been any setbacks with the rehab, and the main goal for him now is working through the daily stiffness and soreness that has accompanied the injury.

"It’s just working through that soreness and trying to push it without having a setback," he said. "You just have to trust the process and do what you can to get ready."

Eifert’s daily routine consists of balance work, resistance band training and then icing the ankle. He’s also been doing conditioning and strength training to keep in shape while unable to practice.

The frustrating part has been trying to be patient through what has been a long process.

"It’s frustrating, because there’s nothing you can do," he said. "You can work as hard as you possibly can and you can be here for 24 straight hours, but that’s not going to help move it along faster."

Eifert has been through this before with elbow and shoulder injuries that derailed his 2014 season, but the ankle has been a new exercise in frustration.

"I had my two surgeries two years ago and the hardest part for me (now) is that if there is soreness or pain, trying to figure out why it’s happening. If I have a bruise on my arm and I poke the bruise, I know it hurts because I had a bruise and I just poked it," he said. "When you have surgery and you don’t know what all is happening, obviously your foot or wherever you had surgery has a lot of trauma on it. For me, it’s just having the confidence that it’s just stiff or sore and you can work through it."

He added: "Whenever you had surgery, it’s not going to be the same, ever. You’re always going to have some of that stuff to work through. That’s just part of the job and part of the injury."

Eifert had 52 receptions for 615 yards and a team-leading 13 touchdowns last season.