Bengals injury roundup: Long list of injuries appears to be shrinking

The Bengals started out training camp with quite a few names on various injury lists, but slowly that list has gotten more and more manageable.

It is no secret that head coach Zac Taylor’s plan has been to keep guys healthy and fresh during the preseason has a huge part in that. It also helps that, aside from one injury last night that we know about, there haven’t seemed to be any more additions to the injury report quite yet.

We’ll take a look at where the Bengals currently stand as far as injured players, and any updates related to them. Lets start with the injury we know from Thursday Night:

Running back, Trayveon Williams: Left foot injury

Williams was the victim of another injury this week. He left the Bengals game against the Chiefs as well, although that game he left with a rib injury.

You have to hope this is just another case of the Bengals being overly cautious with the rookie running back. It also gave the team to take a more extensive look at running backs Justin Ellis and Quinton Flowers. Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard also saw a couple carries early in the game as well.

The rest of the Bengals who didn’t play

Some of these names are repeats from last week, but we’ll go through some of the bigger names and share what we know about their absence.

Wide receiver John Ross

Taylor mentioned during a press conference on Tuesday that Ross is considered day-to-day and that hopefully the receiver would be able to practice this upcoming Monday. Ross has also stated on several occasions that he could practice if the coaches would let him.

His absence just seems to come down to the coaching staff understanding they don’t need to rush him out there for a couple of preseason games and risk aggravating his hamstring.

Cornerback Darqueze Dennard

In the same press conference that Taylor called Ross day-to-day, he called Dennard week-to-week. You may ask me to remove the tinfoil from my head, but that seems to mean something.

Dennard is still recovering from his knee scope that he had this offseason. At this point who knows when he will be able to return. Luckily, the Bengals are fairly deep at the corner position, so they can afford to let Dennard get to 100 percent without having to rush him back onto the field.

It now seems possible that Dennard remains on PUP to open the season and misses the first six games.

Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick

Similar to last week when William Jackson was held out of action, Kirkpatrick missed Thursday night’s game with a “tweak.” We will have to wait and see if Kirkpatrick misses any practices next week, but this again just feels like the team being safe rather than sorry.

The belief is Kirkpatrick will be ready to roll next Thursday when the Giants come to Paul Brown Stadium.

Running back Rodney anderson and defensive linemen Carl Lawson and Geno Atkins

I’m grouping these three up because they all have similar reasons for being held out.

Atkins is simply because he is a very very important veteran player who really doesn’t need much of a tune up. Plus his absence allows the team to give more snaps to players fighting for roster spots and places on the depth chart.

Taylor alluded this past week to Lawson and Anderson both premiering next Thursday at home against the Giants. Both players recovered from pretty bad injuries suffered last season, and it appears Cincinnati saw no reason to have them go out and play in Week 2 of the preseason.

Defensive lineman Christian Ringo and safety Clayton Fejedelem

Both defenders were injured against the Chiefs. Ringo is dealing with a thumb injury and Fejedelem is dealing with an ankle sprain that he found out didn’t need a walking boot earlier this week. He isn’t expected to miss any serious amount of time. We will have to wait and see on Ringo’s progress with his thumb.

Offensive lineman Christian Westerman

Apparently, the offensive lineman is considering retirement. We don’t have enough information to really speculate why Westerman is considering such a decision, but that would obviously be a huge blow to the interior of the Bengals offensive line that already lost Clint Boling to retirement earlier this season.