The Cincinnati Bengals take on the Washington Redskins on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET and a few players are not expected to play.
Safety Shawn Williams, safety Brandon Wilson, linebacker P.J. Dawson, linebacker Hardy Nickerson, tight end Tyler Eifert and tight end C.J .Uzomah are not expected to play on Sunday in the third preseason matchup, often known as the dress rehearsal.
Notably, rookie wide receiver John Ross, running back Giovani Bernard, safety George Iloka and cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick are not on the list. They will all be making their preseason debut on Sunday. Ross is going to be making not only his preseason debut, but NFL debut.
Bengals fans have been waiting for this day since Ross was selected No. 9 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Second year cornerback Clayton Fejedelem will start in place of Williams and William Jackson III will start with Dre Kirkpatrick at cornerback. Expect Jackson to be starting in Week 1 during Adam Jones’ suspension. Tyler Kroft is starting in place of Eifert. It’s unclear why Eifert is not suiting up, so be sure to look out for more information on that. Hopefully he’s not injured and this is just precautionary, which seems to be what’s going on.
Eifert is dressed and going through warmup so guessing just sitting him out so he's good to go for opener. #Bengals pic.twitter.com/J9kFp965FZ
— Richard Skinner (@Local12Skinny) August 27, 2017
The rest of the guys expected to miss today’s game are injured. Williams is dealing with a dislocated elbow, Wilson has a knee injury and is on the Non-Football Injury list. Dawson has a hand/wrist injury. Nickerson injured his back in the second preseason game. And, Uzomah has a sprained ankle, the extent of which is unknown.
UPDATE: Iloka did not play, despite wanting to and not being mentioned by the Bengals among the guys not playing.