Bengals practice recap: Shawn Williams returns Wednesday; AJ McCarron sidelined

The Bengals’ defense received good news on the injury front Wednesday as Shawn Williams made his return to practice

The starting safety was able to practice after missing last week with a hamstring injury. That led to cornerback Josh Shaw starting at safety last week with Derron Smith (thigh) also out. Smith was unable to practice Wednesday.

The real news, however, is AJ McCarron sat out of Wednesday’s practice due to an unknown injury/ailment.

McCarron was present and in sweats, which is odd since backup quarterbacks rarely get a day off if there’s not a reason for it. It’s hard to see how McCarron may have injured himself, being that he hasn’t played but a few snaps this year, but if it were some kind of sickness, he likely wouldn’t be at practice in fear of it spreading.

This is something to watch for, especially with Andy Dalton popping up on recent injury reports with a shoulder injury. That may be having some impact on his recent poor play after he was great for the first two months of the regular season.

Andrew Whitworth also got what was likely a veteran’s rest day on Wednesday. He should be back on Thursday and Friday, which has been the case almost every week this season.

A.J. Green was unable to practice, but has was present and doing some minor rehab work.

This bodes well for Green eventually returning to game action. It still looks unlikely for this week, but he should be healthy before the season is over.

More good news came as Tyler Kroft was able to practice after it appeared he suffered a concussion during Sunday’s loss in Baltimore.

This is significant with fellow backup tight end C.J. Uzomah dealing with a calf injury, which has sidelined him for two straight games. But, Uzomah was practicing on Wednesday, which bodes well for his recovery.

Other banged-up Bengals to keep an eye out for on the official injury report, which will be released later today, include Clint Boling (shoulder), Dre Kirkpatrick (knee), Clark Harris (groin), Ryan Hewitt (foot), and James Wright (hamstring). All of those players have either missed practice or been limited in the last week.

Be sure to check back later for the full practice and participation report.