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It’s been pretty obvious that John Ross has fallen out of favor with the Bengals’ coaching staff. That trend seems to be pretty common nowadays, but what’s really going on?
Ross has only played in one game since Week 2 of this season. He’s been a healthy scratch for most of the year and has re-appeared on the injury report several times with an undisclosed illness. Earlier this month, he reportedly approached the Bengals for a trade.
According to Fox19’s Jeremy Rauch, the Bengals have all but lost interest in playing Ross and don’t even view him as a top-seven receiver on their team. The Bengals only have seven receivers on their active roster. Rauch has since deleted the tweet.
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Mere minutes had passed before Ross himself found the tweet and got to typing. Ross all but said he’s tired of not playing and he’s not happy being with the Bengals. He even included an additional trade request for good measure.
@ the source https://t.co/IlUg270jbI
— Hank Moody (@WatchJRoss) October 30, 2020
It’s not a secret that i have requested a trade. Trade me if this how y’all feel. I’m healthy and eager to play. I know I can be productive. It’s hard to love something when your not actually participating in it. Believe me, its not football that i don’t like. https://t.co/IlUg270jbI
— Hank Moody (@WatchJRoss) October 30, 2020
Despite having success in the first half of the 2019 season, Ross has been rendered unplayable in just his fourth year in the NFL. He definitely didn’t have a good start to this season, but it appears he just isn’t getting a chance to prove himself in practice. And the Bengals aren’t letting him do it anywhere else since they haven’t trade him yet despite legitimate interest from around the league.
#Bengals stance on John Ross has been the same since day one: They'd rather let him walk in March than get something for him now. There are teams interested in him, but they have not been willing to move him.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) October 30, 2020
At what point do we sit down and say maybe the players aren’t the real problem here?