Bengals place Sam Hubbard on IR

The Cincinnati Bengals have placed defensive end Sam Hubbard on injured reserve, the team announced Thursday. There was no corresponding move made yet to fill his spot on the 53-man roster.

Hubbard, a third-year player out of Ohio State, suffered a left elbow injury in last Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. He had started all five games for the Bengals this season and totaled 23 tackles and a sack.

Making this injury worse is the fact Cincinnati just lost starting nose tackle D.J. Reader to a season-ending quad injury, so that’s two starting defensive lineman the Bengals have lost this week.

Hubbard will now have to remain on IR for at least three weeks before he’s eligible to return to the 53-man roster. That means he’ll miss against the Indianpolis Colts, Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans. The team has a bye in Week 9 before facing the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 10, so hopefully he is back in action by then.

In the meantime, look for Khalid Kareem and Amani Bledsoe to start getting more snaps behind starters Carlos Dunlap and Carl Lawson.