Trae Waynes out vs. Vikings

The Cincinnati Bengals will be without starting cornerback Trae Waynes when the Minnesota Vikings come to PBS on Sunday.

Today, head coach Zac Taylor announced Waynes would be out due to his lingering hamstring injury. He injured his left hamstring early in training camp and missed several weeks before returning to practice, then injured the right one during an Aug. 25th practice and has been sidelined ever since.

This has been a disastrous free agent signing for the Bengals, who inked Waynes to a three-year, $42-million contract last offseason, only to have him miss the whole season with a pectoral injury.

Making matters worse is if the Bengals decide to cut Waynes next offseason, they’ll be on the hook for $5 million in dead cap while saving $11 million, according to Over The Cap. $5 million is a major hit to take, but if Waynes can’t stay on the field, they may have no choice but to bite the bullet.

Here’s to hoping it doesn’t come to that and Waynes is able to return to action soon and make a big impact for the secondary this season.

In the meantime, Eli Apple is now the second starting boundary cornerback next to Chidobe Awuzie. That means Apple will face one of the Vikings’ star receivers in Justin Jefferson or Adam Thielen.