Bengals OL Billy Price out at least 2 weeks due to foot injury

The Bengals will be without Billy Price for at least the next two weeks.

On Wednesday, Price told reporters that his foot injury, which has him in a walking boot, is bad enough that it will keep him out for at least two more weeks.

That means Price will miss the next two games at Carolina and at Atlanta, and Week 5 at home vs. Miami also looks highly questionable.

The injury in question happened against Baltimore in Week 2 on a run late in the first quarter in which he appeared to have his foot stepped on. He was down after the play before trainers came out on the field to examine him. He eventually got up and walked gingerly to the sideline for further testing before being ruled out.

On the following Friday, head coach Marvin Lewis said it was a foot strain and he would have been “surprised he (Price) couldn’t come back in an emergency on Thursday after he was pumping up the crowd when he was walking off.”

With Price out, Trey Hopkins took over at center and played well:

Hopkins had been in a battle for the right guard spot he ultimately lost to Alex Redmond, but part of that was because the Bengals wanted Hopkins ready to come off the bench to play right guard or center.

So for now, Hopkins is the starting center against the Panthers and Falcons. The only backup guard is Christian Westerman if either Redmond or Clint Boling goes down with an injury.