Bengals tight end Erick All Jr. will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL, coach Zac Taylor confirmed Wednesday, Oct. 28, according to Local 12 in Cincinnati. It’s the third time All has torn the ACL in his right knee.
All went down in the third quarter of Cincinnati’s 35-13 win over the Ravens in Baltimore on Sunday and was ruled out. The Bengals placed him on injured reserve Tuesday, and a source told NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport the injury was believed to be a torn ACL, ESPN’s Ben Baby reported. Taylor’s update Wednesday removed the doubt.
“It’s awful for him,” Taylor said, per Local 12.
A knee that hasn’t given him a break
The history here is rough. All first tore the ACL during his final college season at Iowa in 2023. Cincinnati drafted him anyway in 2024, and he tore the same ligament again as a rookie. The recovery cost him all of 2025.
He came back this year feeling 100%, per ESPN, and had settled in as the Bengals’ primary dual-purpose tight end, splitting his snaps between run blocking and catching passes. The receiving numbers were modest: eight catches for 56 yards in six games.
Who fills the snaps
Cincinnati already moved on Tuesday, signing tight end Cam Grandy off the Vikings’ practice squad. Grandy spent two seasons with the Bengals before he was waived in final cuts after the preseason, so he knows the system.
Rookie Jack Endries, a seventh-round pick in the 2026 draft, is also expected to see more work, and Taylor said he isn’t nervous about using him. The Bengals are 4-2, and the injury news didn’t stop with All: linebacker Kyle Dugger is week to week with a quad injury, per NFL.com’s Wednesday roundup.
Why it matters
McGraw Media’s read: the box score won’t miss All much, but the play-caller will. A tight end who can block on one snap and run a route on the next lets an offense stay in the same personnel and keep a defense guessing. Grandy knows the playbook, and Endries is a rookie about to get his first real run, so expect some trial and error. For a 4-2 team that just won by 22 in Baltimore, that’s a real, if quiet, hit. The bigger story is the person, though. Three ACL tears in the same knee by his third NFL season is a brutal run, and the only fair thing to say right now is that we hope the surgery and rehab go well.
This story was drafted with AI assistance and fact-checked by McGraw Media.
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