The Cincinnati Bengals take their first win of the 2022 season, but even in the win, they suffered a significant loss.
According to Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Kelsey Conway, DJ Reader will be sidelined for the foreseeable future due to a knee injury he sustained Sunday’s win over the New York Jets. He will obviously miss week 4 against the Miami Dolphins.
Thankfully, Conway reports it’s not a season-end injury, so it’s entirely possible we’ll see Reader back in uniform before the 2022 season comes to a close.
Personally, I choose to take this as good news. While it’s unfortunate that Reader will be running out of time, it’s not a season-end injury, which would have been his second in three years.
When Reader went down on Sunday and was soon ruled out, there was real fear that his season was over. Now it looks like he will be missing action for 1-2 months.
If Reader misses, say, two months, he could return around week 12 against the Tennessee Titans or week 13 against the Kansas City Chiefs. But even if Reader is out of action for longer, it doesn’t look like he’ll be spending the 2023 season recovering from another season-ending injury.
Now that Reader is out, the likes of veteran Josh Tupou, third round rookie Zach Carter and recently acquired Jay Tufele looking to get more playing time.
Assuming Reader goes on injured reserve soon, look for the Bengals to add another defensive tackle to the roster, which could come from the practice squad where Tyler Shelvin and Domenique Davis currently reside.
While Cincinnati could kick the tires on some street-free cops, don’t expect any new signings for Thursday’s game against Miami.
Significant Bengals news: Initial tests show DJ Reader, who suffered a knee injury against NYJ, won’t be back anytime soon. It’s not expected to be a season ending, but the Bengals will be without their star nose tackle for an extended period of time, per source.
— Kelsey Conway (@KelseyLConway) September 27, 2022
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