Bengals haven’t given up on Jonah Williams playing this year, per report

With all of the injuries and setbacks the Bengals have had on the offensive line, it’s about time they got some good news.

Could they be getting some in regards to Jonah Williams?

While the expectation remains that Williams will miss all of his rookie season due to offseason shoulder surgery, the team hasn’t completely given up hope that he could make his return later this season, according to Bengals.com writer Geoff Hobson.

It’s a longshot, but the Bengals haven’t given up on the idea of rookie left tackle Jonah Williams playing late in the year. His torn labrum may very well be a season-ender, but you could see them keeping him on the physically unable to perform list (PUP) at the start of the season rather ending his season on injured reserve in order to keep their proverbial options open.

The 11th overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft, Williams was expected to be Cincinnati’s starting left tackle this season before he underwent a procedure to repair damage to his shoulder labrum. That came in late June, so he’ll have two full months of recovery knocked out by the time Week 1 of the regular season arrives.

The Bengals never gave an exact timetable on Williams’ recovery, so it’s hard to say when he could potentially make a return in the regular season. The typical recovery time for a labral tear is around six months before the shoulder is back to 100%. If six months is the exact timeframe, he’d be out right up until the final 1-2 games of the regular season, but this is all purely speculation.

Even if Williams doesn’t play in a game, getting him some valuable practice reps at the end of the year would be nice. You hate to have a player as promising as him miss every practice and game snap he was likely to get prior to the injury.