A.J. Green says John Ross will make NFL debut at Washington; ‘RELAX’ about offense

Count A.J. Green among those who believe rookie wide receiver John Ross will make his NFL debut this week.

To this point, the Cincinnati Bengals have been methodical with how they’ve worked Ross back onto the football field. The ninth-overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft spent most of the offseason recovering from shoulder surgery, which he underwent in March. It came right after Ross blazed through the Scouting Combine with a 4.22-second 40-yard dash.

That helped coax the Bengals into spending a top-10 pick on the game-breaking receiver, despite knowing he was going to be limited as late as the preseason of his rookie season. That’s exactly how it’s played out, as Ross wasn’t even cleared for full-contact practice until the first week of the preseason.

Now, the Bengals will play at Washington this Sunday, and Green thinks Ross will make his debut in D.C.

“I’m excited to see him play Sunday,” Green said in an interview with WLW 700. “I think he should play. He (Ross) told me he’s gonna play.”

The Bengals are certainly looking for a spark on offense since the starting unit has yet to score a touchdown in the preseason. They’ve gotten about two quarters of work in together against the Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, two defenses that are good, but not to the point that Cincinnati should not have reached the end zone yet with Green, Andy Dalton and the rest of the first-team offense on the field.

Even so, Green isn’t worried about the offense. He did his best Aaron Rodgers impression when asked about the offensive struggles thus far.

“It really doesn’t matter. People just need something to talk about,” said Green. “People just need to relax. We’ll be fine.”

Well said.