Bengals place Jake Fisher on injured reserve, sign Andre Smith

Another day, another Bengals player placed on injured reserve.

This time, it’s Jake Fisher, who will miss the rest of the season due to a back injury. He was placed on injured reserve on Thursday, which paved the way for Cincinnati to sign free agent offensive tackle Andre Smith.

The Smith news came out earlier in the day, which was a bad sign for at least one of Fisher and Cordy Glenn, both of whom are battling back injuries. Glenn’s injury caused him to miss Week 12, which led to Fisher starting in his place at left tackle.

However, Fisher would sustain his own back injury, which has ended his season with just five games remaining. Now, one has to wonder if his Bengals career is over, as he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.

The former second-round pick out of Oregon in the 2015 NFL Draft has never been able to make his mark in Cincinnati. When healthy, Fisher showed flashes of being reliable lineman, but he never quite put it all together.

Then, an irregular heartbeat led to him going on injured reserve midway through the 2017 season. He returned to compete for a starting job this season, only to become the backup Glenn at left tackle. Fisher also got a chance to compete for the right tackle spot.

However, the Bengals wanted to keep him on the left side to backup Glenn, which helped Bobby Hart win the starting right tackle spot, which he has kept all season, despite being one of the worst starting tackles in football.