Hayden Hurst impresses in his Bengals debut

Although there were some struggles overall with the offense in Sunday's Week 1 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, there was one bright spot in a position that had several questions entering the regular season.

That was Hayden Hurst, who made his Cincinnati Bengals debut.

After coming over this offseason from the Atlanta Falcons, the main question became could Hurst replace the production from his tight end predecessor in C.J. Uzomah?

After not seeing much action in the first four quarters, Hurst showed he could be a reliable target for Joe Burrow as the game progressed in overtime, totaling three catches for 36 yards in OT.

He finished the game with five catches for 46 yards.

Although he saw limited targets in regular time, it does speak to the trust that Burrow has in Hurst as he went his way several times as the Bengals tried to seal the game. With five catches off eight targets, Hurst also showed his solid hands to open up the season.

On top of that, it was wonderful to see Hurst succeed in his debut the day after National Suicide Awareness day on Saturday. Hurst has been an advocate for mental health awareness, and suicide prevention over after speaking out about his personal battles with depression.

Although the Bengals couldn’t pull out the win, one question for this offense was answered when it comes to the tight end position.