Bengals vs Texans inactives for NFL Week 2: John Ross in; Tyler Boyd out

UPDATE

It turns out Tyler Boyd may actually be inactive due to a hamstring injury, which must have occurred since practice ended on Wednesday:

You hate to say an injury is a good thing, but I’m sure Boyd would rather be out due to an injury versus being a healthy scratch.

The Cincinnati Bengals have announced their inactives list for Thursday’s game against the Houston Texans, and it includes the Bengals’ two injured players already ruled out, plus a surprising name.

For Cincinnati, the following players are out:

• Wide receiver Tyler Boyd
• Tight end C.J. Uzomah
• Wide receiver Josh Malone
• Offensive lineman Alex Redmond
• Offensive lineman Trey Hopkins
• Defensive end Michael Johnson
• Cornerback Keivarae Russell

The Bengals were hoping to get John Ross prepared enough to be active, depending on how well he did through pregame warmups. Now, he’s active for his first regular-season game.

However, the wide receiver who is inactive to make room for Ross came as a major shock. Tyler Boyd was declared a healthy scratch for this game, despite not showing up on the injury report and being healthy for seemingly every part of OTAs, training camp, the preseason and the first two weeks of the regular season. This is a major shock, and it will be interesting to hear if there’s any reason behind it once the game has concluded.

Starting guard Trey Hopkins is out, which is the last thing this struggling offensive line needed. Starting in his place will be T.J. Johnson.

Starting defensive end Michael Johnson is also out. Replacing him will be rookie Jordan Willis, though you can expect to see plenty of Chris Smith and Carl Lawson getting snaps there as well.

Shawn Williams is active and will start at safety. He missed Week 1 with an elbow injury.

For the Texans, the following players are inactive:

• Wide receiver Will Fuller
• Wide receiver Bruce Ellington
• Tight end Ryan Griffin
• Tight end Stephen Anderson
• Offensive lineman Jeff Allen
• Running back Alfred Blue

Six of these players were ruled out prior to the inactives being announced, including starting receiver Will Fuller and starting guard Jeff Allen. Houston’s offense has been a mess, so not having them will make it even more difficult to have success against a tough Bengals defense.

You’ll notice linebacker Brian Cushing is not on this list. That’s because he’s been suspended for 10 games by the league for violating the NFL PED policy. He was already ruled out for this game due to a concussion.