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The Bengals had good and bad news on the injury front when they hit the practice field on Monday.
The good news was Preston Brown returned to get in some limited work, while Michael Johnson was also working on the rehab field.
#Bengals LB Preston Brown took part in individual position drills and then went to side rehab field to join Michael Johnson working out...
— Richard Skinner (@Local12Skinny) September 17, 2018
Michael Johnson (knee) is working on rehab field. No Mixon (knee), as expected following arthroscopic surgery Saturday, or Billy Price (foot). #Bengals
— Laurel Pfahler (@LaurelPfahler) September 17, 2018
Brown missed Week 2 due to an ankle injury, but the expectation is he’ll return in Week 3 against the Panthers. Johnson is likely out a few weeks due to a knee injury, so just seeing him on the rehab field suggests he’s making good progress.
The bad news was neither Joe Mixon or Billy Price was seen at practice on Monday. That was fully expected with Mixon, who is out 2-4 weeks due to arthroscopic knee surgery. We may not even see Mixon on the rehab field this week.
Price has a foot injury that isn’t believed to be serious, but his status for Week 3 is up in the air for now. He injured it early in the Bengals’ win over Baltimore, and the postgame update suggested he won’t miss much time.
If Price is out this week, Trey Hopkins will be the starting center. He actually played well against Baltimore when Price went out, so there may not be as a big of a dropoff as you would think.
The good news on all of these injuries is they should be healed up within the next month. Even just three weeks into the season, many teams have already lost key players to injuries for months, if not the entire season. The Bengals have managed to avoid that thus far.