A.J. Green Returns To Practice
After weeks of rule outs and no timetables for his return, Bengals receiver A.J. Green took a step in the right direction Thursday. Green returned for a “very limited practice,” according to Geoff Hobson of the team’s official site (Twitter link). As Hobson notes, this is his first time getting any work in since he got hurt back on July 27th. 
In a follow-up tweet, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network notes that Green has a chance to play next week. Green “made some cuts, did some sidesteps over pads and caught a couple balls” in the period of practice open to the media, per a tweet from Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer. He’s already been ruled out for Cincy’s Week 6 game against the Ravens. At 0-5, it’s looking like a lost season for the Bengals, which has led to a lot of speculation that they’ll look to trade Green, an impending free agent.
Just earlier today Green said he hadn’t heard anything about a potential trade, and he recently expressed a desire to have a career like his mentor Larry Fitzgerald has had with the Cardinals. In three of the past four seasons now, Green has missed significant time due to injury. He’s still one of the league’s better receivers when healthy, but he’ll be 32 next season, which complicates things. He’s reportedly been casually discussing an extension with the Bengals for months now, but the two sides are apparently pretty far apart on compensation.
Green suffered a severe ankle injury toward the beginning of camp, and recently there have been rumblings that they may look to keep him out past the Week 9 bye. The fact that he returned to practice today suggests he’ll be back in either Week 7 or 8, perhaps to better showcase him for a deadline trade. If they’re not going to trade him they could really use him as soon as possible, as fellow receiver John Ross was recently placed on IR.
Latest On Bengals’ A.J. Green
As A.J. Green awaits to make his season debut, trade speculation continues to swirl. However, the wide receiver says that he hasn’t gotten word on any possibility of a trade from Bengals brass. 
“I tell everybody I haven’t heard anything,” Green told the team’s website. “I don’t fantasize about anything like that. I’m just trying to get healthy and go from there. I’m prepared for anything. A trade’s not going to change who I am. I’m still going to play. I’m still going to be A.J.”
Earlier this week, Green was ruled out for this Sunday’s contest against the Ravens, marking six missed games for the multiple-time Pro Bowler. No one knows when Green will be ready to play, but the club’s Week 9 bye should help. That is, if he’s still on the team.
The league’s trade deadline is days away and while it’s hard to imagine the Bengals without A.J. Green, we’ve been surprised before.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/9/19
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: LB Ramik Wilson
- Released: CB Chris Jones
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed off Bengals’ practice squad: LB Noah Dawkins
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/7/19
Here are today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
- Signed: DL Jihad Ward
Cincinnati Bengals
- Waived: CB Greg Mabin
Houston Texans
- Waived from reserved/injured list: LB Xavier Woodson-Luster
Washington Redskins
- Claimed off waivers (from Colts): TE Hale Hentges
- Released: LB Cassanova McKinzy
Latest On Bengals’ A.J. Green
Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green has been ruled out for yet another week, coach Zac Taylor announced. Green is still expected to return, Taylor says, but his timetable remains murky. 
Here’s what we do know: Green won’t play against the Ravens this week. He’s still recovering from surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left ankle and will need more time before practicing, even though he shed his protective boot in September.
Green missed seven games last season. Already this season (including the Baltimore tilt), he’s down six games. It’s not what the 0-5 Bengals envisioned for this year, nor is it what Green envisioned as he looks ahead to free agency.
Green pushed for an extension prior to the season, but the two sides were unable to get anything done before training camp, when Green suffered the injury. Now, he’s in limbo – with a limp.
Green, one of the game’s most productive WRs since entering the league in 2011, earned Pro Bowl honors in each of his first seven seasons and has topped 1,000 yards six times.
GMs Expecting Active Trade Deadline
The NFL has experienced a dramatic rise in significant trades over the past several years, and there may be a few noteworthy swaps going down this month as we get closer to the October 29 trade deadline. Indeed, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports says there is a sense among general managers that we may see more trades in advance of this year’s deadline than ever before, largely because there is a larger gulf between pretenders and contenders than in seasons past (indeed, there are still six winless teams, which is the highest number at this point in the season since the 1970 merger).
La Canfora says the teams most actively laying groundwork for potential deals are the Saints, Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs, Patriots, and Seahawks. Of course, a number of those clubs have already been pursuing Jacksonville CB Jalen Ramsey, and the Saints, Eagles, Ravens, and Chiefs are casting a wide net for cornerback upgrades.
One of this year’s still-winless clubs, the Broncos, are reportedly more open to moving veteran pieces than they were last year, as La Canfora writes in a separate piece, with Derek Wolfe, Chris Harris, and Emmanuel Sanders all generating interest. Wolfe could make sense for Baltimore, and the Saints are expected to renew their pursuit of Sanders. Even Von Miller could be on the block, per La Canfora, especially since all of his major bonuses and guarantees have already been paid. Miller, 30, is reportedly open to a change of scenery at this point, but Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network says the Broncos will not trade him (video link). However, the other players mentioned above could be available if Denver continues to scuffle.
But while Denver may be willing to talk shop, rival GMs are skeptical that the 0-4 Bengals, led by old-school owner Mike Brown, will be amenable to moving big-name vets despite their fading fortunes. La Canfora’s sources say Cincinnati could net a first-round pick for WR A.J. Green if the acquiring club is able to work out a new contract with him as a condition of the trade (and if Green recovers from his foot injury soon). The Patriots and Saints could make a push for Green or Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert, and Cincy could also swing deals for players like Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap if the club is willing to listen to offers.
Like fellow winless outfits Denver and Cincinnati, the Jets could be active in shopping veteran players in advance of the deadline. La Canfora specifically names Kelechi Osemele and Leonard Williams as players who could be on the move, though he says there has been no trade chatter surrounding Le’Veon Bell at this point.
Finally, though the 0-4 Redskins have been steadfastly refusing to trade Trent Williams, some believe that the team will relent at some point and will ship Williams to a contender in need of O-line help.
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.