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Cincinnati Bengals rookie Cam Sample left the team’s second preseason game on Friday night with a shoulder injury and didn’t return.
While the injury doesn’t sound overly serious, it follows on the heels of breakout rookie pass-rusher Joseph Ossai suffering an injury, too.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor added context, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“Just a little more for (Sample in) the game plan (in) this game, but he’s a versatile guy that when we drafted him we thought he can play multiple roles for us and saw that in the first game. That’s something that will continue down the line. You can see we don’t have a lot of depth over there at defensive end right now, so it’s good though, it’s good work for him. Unfortunate that he has what appears to be a minor injury.”
It’s an unfortunate setback for Sample, as the Bengals had been using him all over the line while letting him get used to the pro game. The idea was he could end up being a key part of the rotation.
That idea isn’t off the table by any means given the apparent severity of the injury, but the rookies need snaps to earn a role. There’s at least some sense of urgency because the team worked out a veteran free-agent defensive end before the preseason game.
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