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We haven't seen Vontaze Burfict on a football field since January of 2016. That will change Thursday night, when the Bengals linebacker returns from a three-game suspension for, as the league described at the time, "repeated violations of safety-related playing rules."

Specifically, Burfict knocked Antonio Brown silly late in the wild-card game against the Steelers, and that came a week after he destroyed Ravens tight end Maxx Williams with a cheap shot. But with his forced vacation behind him, Burfict is chomping at the bit to rejoin his teammates.

"We'd have to lock him in a trunk if he didn't play, so yeah, Vontaze will play tonight," coach Marvin Lewis told SiriusXM NFL Radio on Thursday morning. "He's ready to go."

Lewis added, "He raises the level of everyone in the huddle and on the team," though the coach conceded that he wasn't sure how much Burfict would play. Either way, the linebacker is "raring to go."

"[The coaches] were saying half the game, but if the game's close I feel like I could probably play the full game," Burfict said earlier this week, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. "But that's up to them. They're going to watch me and if they said if I look tired they're going to pull me out. They don't want me to get overly exaggerated with too much playing and obviously get hurt or something like that. That's up to them. I'll leave it their hands. I'm just going to go out there and play."

Through three weeks, the Burfict-less Benals' defense ranks 17th overall (13th against the run, 19th against the pass), according to Football Outsiders' metrics. The Bengals were a top-10 unit last season, when Burfict played 10 games.