The Bengals will head to Madrid without one of their rookie pass rushers. Cincinnati placed defensive end Cashius Howell on injured reserve Tuesday, Nov. 3, with a wrist injury, the team announced.
Howell got hurt in Sunday’s 43-36 overtime win over the Tennessee Titans and had surgery on the wrist shortly after. The IR move means he’ll miss at least the next four games, per Heavy.
The second-round pick out of Texas A&M hadn’t started yet, but he’d been part of the rotation in all seven games, picking up one sack. Those are the snaps Cincinnati now has to hand to someone else.
So, who fills in?
That’s where it gets a little thin. The Bengals didn’t make a corresponding move Tuesday, and On SI’s Russ Heltman noted that Shemar Stewart is the only healthy backup defensive end left on the 53-man roster, with Cedric Johnson also hurt. Heltman expects practice-squad end Isaiah Foskey to be called up at some point this week.
Zac Taylor sounded calm about it Monday. “We’re fortunate that we have a lot of depth in the D-Line room,” he said, according to On SI.
Next up: Cincinnati (5-2) faces the Atlanta Falcons (3-5) on Sunday in Madrid.
Why it matters
Our read: this is a depth problem, not a panic-button problem. Howell wasn’t starting, and a 5-2 team doesn’t fall apart over a rotational rookie. The thing is, the timing stings. An overseas trip is exactly when you want fresh legs on the edge, and Cincinnati is now one more injury away from leaning on a practice-squad call-up for real snaps. For Howell, the bigger cost is at least a month of game reps in his first NFL season.
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