Bengals sign Thomas Rawls; Tra Carson to IR

UPDATE: It turns out that Tra Carson reverted to the Bengals’ reserve/injured list on Thursday after clearing waivers. The team still could ultimately release him from the list if he or they want, but for now, he remains a member of the Bengals while recovering from his injury.

The Bengals have another shakeup in their backfield.

On Wednesday, the team used the waived/injured designation on Tra Carson and signed free agent running back Thomas Rawls.

Carson was injured during practice on Monday, which led to Rawls being signed ahead of the team’s Week 3 clash with the Panthers. It’s a bad break for Carson, and hopefully he gets placed on injured reserve if it’s bad enough so the Bengals can keep him.

According to Marvin Lewis, Carson was injured in Monday’s practice but it isn’t a season-ending injury.

As for Rawls, he was once a rising star in the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Seahawks in 2015. However, injuries have led to his downfall, so much that he failed to make an NFL roster entering Week 1.

In three seasons with the Seahawks, Rawls rushed 314 times for 1,336 yards (4.3 ypc) and 7 touchdowns. He also caught 31 passes for 266 yards 8.6 (avg.) and one score. He signed with the Jets this year but was let go during final cuts.

If Rawls can get back to what he was as a rookie, this will be a huge addition to the Bengals’ backfield, especially with Joe Mixon out due to minor knee surgery, which should sideline him 2-4 weeks.