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Cincinnati Bengals News & Rumors

C.J. Uzomah On Track To Play In Super Bowl

February 11th, 2022 at 1:35pm CST by Adam La Rose

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Bengals in the build-up to Super Bowl LVI has been the availability of tight end C.J. Uzomah. The news appears to be positive on his health status, as he is “tracking to play on Sunday”, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). 

[Related: Latest On Bengals’ C.J. Uzomah]

Uzomah suffered an MCL injury in the team’s AFC Championship game against the Chiefs before registering a catch. That put his status in serious doubt, even with the extra week off to heal. However, he has maintained throughout his media availabilities that he would be able to suit up for the title game.

As Rapoport notes, the 29-year-old missed practice on Wednesday, but put in a limited session on Thursday. His colleague James Palmer tweets that Uzomah is also expected to participate in today’s lighter, but final, practice today. That further points to the Bengals having their full array of pass-catchers available.

Uzomah had a career year in 2021, posting 49 catches for 493 yards and five touchdowns in 16 regular season games. He also played a large role in Cincinnati’s playoff wins over the Raiders and Titans, making a combined 13 receptions for 135 yards and one score. Regardless of if he is able to play on Sunday or not, the pending free agent has likely earned himself a big payday come the offseason.

Assuming Uzomah is able to suit up, the Bengals’ offense will be at full strength, maximizing their chances of pulling off another upset.

Rob Gronkowski Eyeing Bengals For 2022?

February 10th, 2022 at 8:55am CST by Adam La Rose

Rob Gronkowski is facing another decision regarding his playing career. With Tom Brady out of the league, the pending free agent is expected to follow his longtime teammate into retirement. If he does continue his career, though, Cincinnati may be his next destination. 

[Related: Tom Brady Confirms Retirement]

During an interview published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, the 32-year-old expressed an admiration of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. “I watched him in college. I just love the way he presents himself out on the football field. In the pocket, he’s just so calm and he just slings it out on the field”, he said. “If I had to pick a quarterback, it’d be the young buck Joe Burrow. He’s killing it right now in the game“.

Gronkowski has repeatedly said – and proved, when he unretired to play in Tampa Bay – that he would only catch passes from Brady. He also made it clear before the beginning of this season that he is playing on a year-to-year basis. To that point, Chase Goodbread of NFL.com writes that Gronkowski “was leaning toward hanging up his cleats” after the team’s Divisional Round loss, but notes that he has not officially made a decision one way or the other.

Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht is leaving the door open to bringing Gronkowski back. ““I don’t think it’s going to be [dependent] on whether [Brady] came back or not” he said. “I know that Rob had an incredible experience here as well, and he was a big factor in us having the success that we did. We would welcome Rob back with open arms, but we’re giving him the space right now to decide what he wants to do”.

The fit with the Bengals could be a good one for Gronkowski. If C.J. Uzomah, who has earned himself a large payday with his production this season, leaves in free agency, there would be an opening at the tight end position in Cincinnati. Gronkowski, for his part, proved he can still be productive at this point in his career, posting 55 catches for 802 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games this year. The yardage total was his highest since an All-Pro 2017 campaign in New England.

If he does decide to keep playing, Gronkowski could be on the move for a second time, in this case to a team that will, at a minimum, enter 2022 as the reigning AFC champions. Whether he decides to retire a second time, or if the Bengals would even be interested in him, remains to be seen.

Bengals Planning Zac Taylor Extension

February 8th, 2022 at 2:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

In charge of one of the longest-odds Super Bowl entrants in NFL history, Zac Taylor has transformed his career this season. The third-year Bengals HC has gone from the hot seat to extension candidate.

The Bengals are indeed preparing to give their young coach a new contract, with Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com reporting the surprise Super Bowl team is planning to extend Taylor soon after Sunday’s game.

The ex-Sean McVay disciple was 6-25-1 as a head coach coming into this season and had only a partial year of NFL OC work (with the 2015 Dolphins) under his belt. Rumors about Taylor’s firing emerged, but Mike Brown opted to keep his play-caller for a third season. Taylor’s offense took a significant step forward, and Joe Burrow‘s ACL recovery went historically well — despite the burgeoning-superstar quarterback leading the NFL in sacks taken — to the point the Bengals have reached the third Super Bowl in franchise history.

Taylor’s offense features Burrow and near-lock Offensive Rookie of the Year winner Ja’Marr Chase, with Tee Higgins taking a step forward as well. Burrow and his skill-position troops compensated for Cincinnati’s below-average O-line, which the AFC champions will surely aim to bolster in the offseason. Cincinnati’s offense ranked seventh in scoring this season — the team’s highest mark since 2015.

At 38, Taylor is one of the youngest coaches in Super Bowl history. The Bengals, of course, have a track record of patience with their head coaches. Most notably, Brown gave Marvin Lewis 16 seasons — far more than most expected — after the latter turned the team around in the 2000s.

Cincinnati is also planning to keep most of Taylor’s staff. Extensions are in the works for several assistants, per Wilson, who notes wide receivers coach Troy Walters, linebackers coach Al Golden, D-line coach Marion Hobby and tight ends coach James Casey are among those set to receive new deals. Re-ups for DC Lou Anarumo and OC Brian Callahan should be expected as well. Each received moderate interest on this year’s coaching carousel, with Anarumo interviewing with the Giants and Callahan with the Broncos — former employers for each — and no other teams.

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 2/7/22

February 7th, 2022 at 2:42pm CST by Adam La Rose

Today’s Reserve/Futures contracts signed around the league:

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

New York Giants 

New England Patriots

2022 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker

February 6th, 2022 at 10:15pm CST by Zachary Links

Last year, seven NFL teams opted to make a head coaching change. Sean Payton stepping away from the Saints created nine full-time vacancies available this year.

Listed below are the head coaching candidates that have been linked to each of the teams with vacancies, along with their current status. If and when other teams decide to make head coaching changes, they’ll be added to this list. Here is the current breakdown:

Updated 2-7-22 (1:45pm CT)

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Bengals WR Auden Tate Reverts To IR

February 1st, 2022 at 7:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

Despite returning to practice ahead of the Bengals’ wild-card game, Auden Tate will not be in uniform when the team takes the field for Super Bowl LVI.

Tate’s practice period expired Tuesday without a roster move, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. This means the veteran wide receiver will revert to IR, a move that ends his season. Tate has not played since Week 7.

A thigh injury led to Tate’s IR placement in early December. The fourth-year wideout had battled that issue in the weeks leading up to that move, but the former seventh-round pick did not play much of a role this season. Tate caught three passes for 39 yards and a touchdown this season.

A shoulder ailment ended Tate’s 2020 season, and an MCL sprain in December 2019 wrapped his most promising season. After catching 40 passes for 575 yards in 2019 — during a season A.J. Green did not play — Tate has compiled just 189 yards since.

The Bengals have invested significant draft capital in the receiver position, taking Tee Higgins in the 2020 second round and adding likely Offensive Rookie of the Year Ja’Marr Chase fifth overall this year. Tate, who is set for free agency in March, will likely attempt to bounce back with another team next season.

Updated 2022 NFL Draft Order

January 31st, 2022 at 8:54am CST by Adam La Rose

Championship Sunday has come and gone, and with it, we now know the matchup for Super Bowl LVI. The Rams’ win on Sunday guarantees that the Lions’ other first round pick will be in the bottom two, slightly devaluing it relative to if they had lost. Still, it is one of the bargaining chips they hold if they were to attempt to move up into the top spot, from their current position of second. As one of four teams with multiple picks in the opening round, Detroit will certainly be a squad to keep an eye on in April.

For non-playoff teams, the draft order is determined by the inverted 2021 standings, plus a series of tiebreakers, starting with strength of schedule. For playoff teams, the order is determined by their postseason outcome and regular season record.

Here is the updated order after this weekend’s results:

  1. Jacksonville Jaguars: 3-14
  2. Detroit Lions: 3-13-1
  3. Houston Texans: 4-13
  4. New York Jets: 4-13
  5. New York Giants: 4-13
  6. Carolina Panthers: 5-12
  7. New York Giants(via Bears)
  8. Atlanta Falcons: 7-10
  9. Denver Broncos: 7-10
  10. New York Jets (via Seahawks)
  11. Washington Football Team: 7-10
  12. Minnesota Vikings: 8-9
  13. Cleveland Browns: 8-9
  14. Baltimore Ravens: 8-9
  15. Philadelphia Eagles (via Dolphins)
  16. Philadelphia Eagles (via Colts)
  17. Los Angeles Chargers: 9-8
  18. New Orleans Saints: 9-8
  19. Philadelphia Eagles: 9-8
  20. Pittsburgh Steelers: 9-7-1
  21. New England Patriots: 10-7
  22. Las Vegas Raiders: 10-7
  23. Arizona Cardinals: 11-6
  24. Dallas Cowboys: 12-5
  25. Buffalo Bills: 11-6
  26. Tennessee Titans: 12-5
  27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 13-4
  28. Green Bay Packers: 13-4
  29. Miami Dolphins (via 49ers)
  30. Kansas City Chiefs: 12-5
  31. Cincinnati Bengals: 10-7*
  32. Detroit Lions (via Rams)

* = Remaining playoff teams

Latest On Bengals’ C.J. Uzomah

January 30th, 2022 at 5:41pm CST by Zachary Links

The Bengals are headed to the Super Bowl. Still, it remains to be seen whether they’ll have tight end C.J. Uzomah on the field when they arrive.

[RELATED: Inside The Dolphins’ Pursuit Of Joe Burrow]

The initial belief is Bengals TE C.J. Uzomah has suffered an MCL sprain (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Uzomah will undergo an MRI later today to determine the extent of the damage and his timetable for recovery.

Uzomah went down with a left knee injury in the first quarter, forcing him to the sidelines. After doctors took a closer look, he was carted off to the locker room and officially ruled out for the remainder of the game. Without him, the Bengals still managed to pull off a thrilling overtime upset, beating the Chiefs 27-24 and earning their first Super Bowl trip in decades.

The 29-year-old has been outstanding so far in the playoffs, notching a total of 13 catches for 135 yards and a touchdown against the Raiders and Titans. He did not register a catch before his early exit on Sunday and it remains to be seen whether he’ll get the opportunity to play two weeks from today.

Dolphins Were Prepared To Trade All Three 2020 First-Round Picks To Bengals For Joe Burrow

January 30th, 2022 at 1:19pm CST by Rory Parks

The Dolphins’ pursuit of the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft was well-documented. Though the team was connected to Alabama passer Tua Tagovailoa for much of the 2019 season — Tank For Tua, anyone? — Joe Burrow‘s transcendent 2019 performance with LSU and Tagovailoa’s injury troubles made Burrow the top-ranked QB in his class on big boards across the NFL.

The rebuilding Miami outfit was supposed to be bad enough to secure 2020’s No. 1 pick — and, by extension, Burrow — without having to make a trade, but a surprising 5-4 finish to the 2019 season resulted in the club landing the No. 5 overall selection (and as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk posits, then-head coach Brian Flores‘ refusal to heed owner Stephen Ross‘ alleged mandate to tank may have marked the beginning of the rift that eventually led to Flores’ dismissal this year). The Bengals, meanwhile, stumbled into the top pick and found themselves in pole position for Burrow.

Still armed with three first-round choices (Nos. 5, 18, and 26) thanks to myriad transactions emblematic of a rebuilding club, the Dolphins did their best to acquire the No. 1 pick from Cincinnati. That gambit included trying to prise the No. 3 overall pick from the Lions, which Miami intended to trade to the Bengals, along with its own No. 5 selection, in exchange for the No. 1 choice.

While acquiring the No. 3 pick without giving up the No. 5 always seemed like a longshot, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com wrote this morning that the ‘Fins were willing to give up all three of their own first-rounders — and potentially more — to jump up to No. 1 and nab Burrow. However, Bengals brass had no interest in entertaining any offers, regardless of how tempting they might have been, and quickly rebuffed Miami’s overtures.

In hindsight, it’s hard to argue with that decision (though Florio faults Ross for not calling Bengals owner Mike Brown directly to make a pitch while also faulting Brown for not even listening to what the Dolphins were putting on the table). Burrow rebounded from a torn ACL that cut his rookie season short and enjoyed a tremendous sophomore campaign, leading the league in completion percentage (70.4%) and yards per attempt (8.9) despite being sacked a league-high 51 times. Most importantly, of course, is the fact that he has his team on the brink of its first Super Bowl appearance since 1989.

Although it’s possible to envision a scenario in which the Bengals acquired Miami’s three first-rounders and still made their current postseason run — perhaps with Justin Herbert, selected by the Chargers with 2020’s No. 6 overall pick, under center — Burrow’s success has Bengals fans perfectly content with the way things worked out. The Dolphins, meanwhile, ended up with Tagovailoa after all, and are hopeful that whomever they hire as their new head coach will help him find the consistent professional success that has thus far eluded him.

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