A.J. Green On Staying With Bengals
A.J. Green doesn’t appear to be that close to returning from his ankle injury, and the Bengals aren’t going anywhere this season at 0-4. Naturally, there’s been a lot of buzz about Cincy potentially dealing Green to a contender at the trade deadline, and talk that Green could get frustrated with the direction of the franchise. That being said, don’t expect to see Green demanding a trade anytime soon.
In an interesting new piece, Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic sat down with Green, who certainly didn’t seem like someone looking to leave town. “Yeah, you always want that,” Green said of playing his entire career with one team. “Nobody will ever value you more than the guys that drafted you. You want to leave a legacy.”
Dehner writes that one of Green’s mentors is Larry Fitzgerald, and the two receivers have been close since early in Green’s career. Fitzgerald, of course, is in his 16th season with the Cardinals, and is a franchise icon. “For him, he is the Arizona Cardinals legend. He can do anything he wants in the state of Arizona and people are going to stay behind him,” Green said. “It’s so hard now, you see everybody that’s not going well where they want a trade. I think Larry did it the right way,” he continued.
It doesn’t sound like Green wants out, but the Bengals will still need to pay the impending free agent if they want him around. In a separate piece, Dehner notes that Green’s camp has “been negotiating a potential contract extension for months, but both sides are having trouble finding common ground,” and that talks have been “complicated by the lucrative deals signed by Julio Jones and Michael Thomas.”
Green will be 32 next season, and has missed significant time with injuries in three of the past four seasons. Still one of the best receivers in the league when healthy, the Bengals will be forced to make a tough call on whether they want to move on and embrace a full-on rebuild, or keep Green around to be their Fitzgerald. Right now it looks as if Green will return a game or two before the deadline, and Cincy could use that action to showcase him. Green has been with the Bengals since 2011, when they drafted him fourth overall out of Georgia.
Execs Doubt Bengals Will Deal Veterans
- The Bengals were expected to take their lumps this season. The Broncos‘ 0-4 start has surprised. But executives around the league are not anticipating a firesale for either franchise. “I agree they absolutely should be shopping players (ahead of the Oct. 29 trade deadline), but I have my doubts,” an NFL exec told CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora. “We’re applying reason and logic, but I’m not sure those teams will fully embrace what needs to be done.” Denver, which did trade Demaryius Thomas before last season’s deadline, has standouts from its previous Super Bowl team on expiring contracts — Chris Harris and Emmanuel Sanders. The Bengals house veterans A.J. Green, Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap. But Green is still recovering from injury and the latter two are early into 2018 extensions.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/3/19
Today’s practice squad updates:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: DL Miles Brown
- Released: RB Justin Davis
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: WR Trenton Irwin
Houston Texans
- Released: LB Wyatt Ray
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: OL Will Holden
Washington Redskins
- Signed: OL Travis Vornkahl
Zac Taylor Expects Cordy Glenn To Play In 2019
The Ravens‘ pattern of letting edge rushers walk in free agency included the departures of both Terrell Suggs and Za’Darius Smith this year. Baltimore’s defense has allowed 500-plus yards the past two weeks. While the Ravens attempted to patch up their edge-rushing need with post-draft additions of Pernell McPhee and Shane Ray (since cut), they were on the lookout for higher-profile players earlier in free agency. In addition to their Ziggy Ansah and Gerald McCoy meetings, the Ravens expressed interest in Justin Houston and Clay Matthews, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic notes (subscription required). Houston landed in Indianapolis, and Matthews has five sacks with the Rams (after a 3.5-sack 2018). The Ravens also made an offer to former Bengals and Broncos nose tackle Domata Peko this week, Zrebiec tweets. But it likely was not up to Peko’s liking, with the 13-year veteran still unsigned.
- Cordy Glenn has missed every Bengals game this season and remains in concussion protocol. Obviously, this is a concerning situation for the veteran tackle. But Zac Taylor does expect the second-year Bengal to play this season, with Geoff Hobson adding (via Twitter) Glenn was attending a doctor’s appointment today. Andre Smith has struggled replacing Glenn, who was moved back to tackle (from his short-term left guard post) because of Jonah Williams‘ offseason injury.
- Down A.J. Green and John Ross, the Bengals are scrambling at wide receiver. They worked out free agent DaMarkus Lodge, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). This marks the Bengals’ first receiver workout since Ross’ latest injury. He is expected to be out for a few games. Lodge is a rookie UDFA out of Ole Miss.
Bengals Place John Ross On IR
Receivers are dropping like flies. Just moments after we heard the Chargers were placing Dontrelle Inman on injured reserve, we got word of another wideout hitting the shelf. The Bengals are placing John Ross on IR, according to a tweet from Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic.
Dehner notes that the Bengals have promoted receiver Stanley Morgan from the practice squad in a corresponding roster move, and that it’s a sternocavicular injury for Ross. We heard yesterday that Ross was going to miss some time, but it was initially reported as something that would sideline him for around a month. Now, he’ll have to miss the next eight weeks at least. On the bright side Ross is expected back this season, and the injury had about a six-week timetable but the Bengals wanted to give him extra rest, tweets Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
It’s a tough blow for Ross, and for the Bengals’ offense. The ninth overall pick of the 2017 draft, who had been written off by many as a bust, was finally starting to make an impact. Injuries and a lack of trust from Marvin Lewis had plagued Ross’ first two years in Cincy, but he had 270 yards through the first two games of this season and was starting to look like the elite deep threat he was supposed to be.
With A.J. Green still not set to return anytime soon, the Bengals’ 0-4 offense is in dire circumstances. Second-year seventh-round pick Auden Tate will now be asked to play a big role moving forward. Morgan is an undrafted rookie from Nebraska who was waived at final cuts.
John Ross To Miss Multiple Games
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but John Ross is going to be missing time with a significant injury. The talented but oft-hurt receiver will miss multiple games due to a shoulder injury he suffered on Monday Night Football against the Steelers, sources told Mike Garafolo of NFL Network (Twitter link).
Garafolo notes that his time on the sidelines “could be in the range of a month or so.” It’s devastating news for Ross, as he was finally starting to come on strong. Injuries have plagued the ninth overall pick of the 2017 draft during his football career, dating all the way back to an ACL tear he suffered in college. Knee and shoulder issues limited him as a rookie, and he ended up in Marvin Lewis’ doghouse.
Ross was frequently a healthy scratch under Lewis as a rookie, and after an underwhelming sophomore season, many people labeled him a bust. He reportedly had a strong offseason, and started to thrive in new coach Zac Taylor’s system. He had 270 yards receiving and three touchdowns through the first two weeks of the season, and looked like the blazing fast deep threat he was always supposed to be coming into the league.
Now, it’s yet another setback for the Washington product. It’s also the last thing this Bengals team needed, as their offense looked terrible on Monday night in a 27-3 loss to Pittsburgh. A.J. Green doesn’t look like he’s particularly close to returning from his ankle injury, so Cincinnati’s receiving corp will be very thin moving forward. They’ll be leaning heavily on Tyler Boyd moving forward. Taylor’s tenure has gotten off to a disastrous start, as the Bengals are now 0-4. He’ll try to pick up his first win as a head coach in Week 5 against the Cardinals.
A.J. Green To Miss More Games
The Bengals will have to wait a little bit longer to get A.J. Green back on the field. The Bengals’ star wide receiver will miss at least another two weeks as he recovers from his ankle injury, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com hears.
The Bengals opted against placing Green on injured reserve this year, believing that he would be able to return sooner than the mandatory eight weeks. It sounds like Green can still beat the half-season timetable, though he might cut it close. The Bengals are already four weeks into the season and Green will not be able to take the field until Week 7, at the earliest.
There’s also this to consider – the Bengals have a Week 9 bye, so there might be wisdom in holding Green out for a bit longer. At minimum, Green will be absent for tonight’s game against the Steelers, next week against the Cardinals, and the following contest against the Ravens. After that, Green will be re-evaluated to find out whether he can play against the Jaguars on October 20.
Green may also want to take his personal football future and finances into consideration. The two sides were unable to reach agreement on a contract extension this offseason, meaning that he is still ticketed for free agency in March.
Green, one of the game’s most talented wide receivers, finished out 2018 with career low totals of 46 grabs for 694 yards. Without Green, the Bengals are 0-3 thus far in 2019.
Bengals Sign CB Torry McTyer Off Chiefs’ Practice Squad
Torry McTyer will return to an NFL active roster. The Bengals will bring the third-year cornerback to their 53-man roster, plucking him off the Chiefs’ practice squad, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
The Bengals placed cornerback Darius Phillips on IR to make room for McTyer’s arrival. The latter spent three-plus weeks on Kansas City’s practice squad, arriving in western Missouri after the Dolphins waived him on cutdown weekend.
A more committed Dolphins team used McTyer in 15 games last season, deploying the UNLV-produced defender as a starter in four 2018 games. Overall, McTyer has played in 22 NFL contests since arriving as a 2017 Dolphins UDFA.
Phillips has played in 18 Bengals games since arriving in Cincinnati as a 2018 fifth-round pick. A knee injury will send Phillips to IR, though the Bengals view the backup corner — who notched his first career interception in Week 3 — as a possible return candidate later this season, per The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. (Twitter link).
Minor NFL Transactions: 9/25/19
Here are today’s minor moves:
Cincinnati Bengals
- Promoted from practice squad: CB Greg Mabin
- Waived: G Keaton Sutherland
Miami Dolphins
- Promoted from practice squad: WR Isaiah Ford
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Placed on IR: TE Xavier Grimble
Washington Redskins
- Signed: TE Jerome Cunningham
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/24/19
Here are Tuesday’s practice squad decisions:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: P Ryan Winslow
Atlanta Falcons
- Signed: TE Carson Meier
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: LB Nate Hall
- Released: LB Curtis Akins
Carolina Panthers
- Signed: T Matt Kaskey
- Released: G Rishard Cook
Cincinnati Bengals
- Signed: CB Greg Mabin
- Released: RB Jordan Ellis
Denver Broncos
- Signed: WR Trinity Benson
Detroit Lions
- Signed: WR Chris Lacy
- Released: RB Nick Brossette
Houston Texans
- Signed: WR Tyron Johnson
Indianapolis Colts
- Signed: CB Deante Burton
- Released: RB Darius Jackson
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: DB Alexander Myres
- Released: DB Trevon Mathis
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: WR Ishmael Hyman