The Cincinnati Bengals won a game to avoid the fate of 0-16 but otherwise remain largely in evaluation mode.
It’s about the future and the 2020 draft now. During this sort of stretch, the idea is to get as many young players possible meaningful snaps to spur development and better reveal where the team needs to hit needs in free agency and the draft.
But from the sounds of it the Bengals won’t get this chance with 2018 first-round pick Billy Price.
Price missed last week’s win with back soreness, which gave rookie Michael Jordan the start. And based on what head coach Zac Taylor told the media, more of the same could be on the way.
“That’s something we’ll continue to evaluate every week. He’s a young player that we think has great potential. He just needs to continue to get reps. Billy (G/C Billy Price) has been fighting a little bit of a back (injury). We’ll continue to see how that develops over the course of the week. We’ll make some decisions as the weeks goes as to what we want to do there.”
Price has technically suited up for 12 games this year but has hardly appeared after a preseason of reportedly battling plantar fasciitis. He couldn’t win the job at center, then lost out to the rookie Jordan at left guard.
Just two weeks ago, Price wasn’t going to start at all at left guard until Alex Redmond suffered a season-ending injury during warmups. For those who know Redmond’s career trajectory, this is a big red flag for Price.
In an ideal scenario, Price suits up and plays in the final four games. But right now things continue to trend in an incredibly wrong direction for the Bengals given the cost of the investment.
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