Bengals OL Billy Price returns to practice

It’s been mostly bad news on the injury front in Cincinnati this week.

Among the names expected to be out Sunday against the Buccaneers are Darqueze Dennard, John Ross, Tyler Kroft, Giovani Bernard, Nick Vigil, and possibly Vontaze Burfict.

However, it now appears there is a ‘chance’ we see starting center Billy Price against the Buccaneers, as he made his long-awaited return to practice on Wednesday:

I would still guess he doesn’t play this week, but getting in a week of practice before the bye will help ensure he’s ready to rock when the Bengals host the Saints in Week 10.

It’s not been a great start to the career of the 21st overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, who has missed the last five games due to a foot injury suffered in Week 2. The Bengals usually get little-to-nothing from their first-round picks, only to have them become solid contributors as their careers go on.

Still, if the Bengals are going to rebound from their two-game losing streak and have a strong second half to their season, a healthy Price could do wonders. This offensive line is still one of the worst in football, and Price should be able to help cure their woes on the interior.

It would be great to see Price return to center and have Hopkins move over to right guard to replace Alex Redmond, who remains one of the worst starting linemen of any NFL team. Perhaps Price could even move to right guard, but either way, someone needs to push Redmond out of the lineup.

Get well soon, Billy.