Tag: AJ Green Georgia football

Former UGA football star A.J. Green finds new NFL home

The Cincinnati Bengals drafted Georgia star A.J. Green with the No. 4 overall pick. Now, A.J. Green has signed with the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cincinnati Bengals drafted Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver A.J. Green with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. Now, for the first time in A.J. Green’s NFL career, he’ll be suiting up for another team.

The Arizona Cardinals have signed A.J. Green to a one-year contract with $6 million guaranteed. Green can earn up to $8.5 million if he achieves all of his incentives.

The former Bengals star has 9,430 career receiving yards and 65 career receiving touchdowns. A.J. Green began his NFL career with five consecutive seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards. In 2019, Green missed the entire year with an ankle injury.

Last season, A.J. Green hauled in 47 catches for 523 yards and two touchdowns. It was certainly a down year for the seven-time Pro Bowl player, but A.J. Green has gas left in the tank.

The Arizona Cardinals will pair A.J. Green with DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk. Green should receive a lot of single coverage and could quickly become one of Kyler Murray’s favorite targets.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the news of A.J. Green’s signing. He joins J.J. Watt as Arizona’s biggest offseason additions.

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Georgia Bulldog great AJ Green returns to Bengals practice

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green suffered a hamstring injury over a week ago and is now returning to the practice field

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green suffered a hamstring injury over a week ago and is now returning to the practice field. Green, a former Georgia Bulldogs, is the No. 1 wide receiver for Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ offense.

Green’s injury was never considered severe, but it is good to see him back out there. The UGA product missed all of last season with an ankle injury.

A.J. Green has struggled off and on with injuries since the 2015 season. He’s only recorded one season (2017) with over 1,000 receiving yards since 2015.

If Green can stay healthy for Cincinnati, then he should have a great season. A.J. Green and the Bengals offense has a lot of weapons for top pick Joe Burrow.

Running back Joe Mixon and an improved offensive line should take some of the pressure off Joe Burrow. Burrow enters his rookie season after having a record setting season at LSU.

The Joe Burrow to A.J. Green connection could be something special. Burrow showed incredible accuracy, especially for jump balls during his time at LSU. A.J. Green is a man who has won his fair share of jump balls over the years. In fact, Green has 63 receiving touchdowns over his NFL career.

September 12, 2009; Athens, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs wide receiver A.J. Green (8) catches a touchdown pass behind South Carolina Gamecocks cornerback Akeem Auguste (3) at the end of the second quarter at Sanford Stadium. Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

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Report: Cincinnati Bengals WR, former Georgia football great A.J. Green dealing with hamstring injury

Cincinnati Bengals receiver A. J. Green has reportedly suffered a hamstring injury. Details here

Cincinnati Bengals receiver A.J. Green reportedly suffered a hamstring injury during Monday’s practice.

Jay Morrison of The Athletic reported the details –

“A.J. Green not in for this set of 11s. Was getting left hamstring looked at and stretched after last set of 7 on 7. He’s still on field. No ice. But appears done for the day.”

Obviously a big scare for both Bengals fans and DawgNation, because of Green’s season-ending ankle injury in July of last season.

One of the best receivers to ever dawn the red and black, Green has been one of the only bright spots for the Bengals since he was drafted No. 4 overall in 2011.

The good news, however, is the injury is now thought to be minor after a report by Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic involving comments from Bengals head coach Zac Taylor on Green’s injury.

 

A.J. Green training to maximize the rest of his career

Former Georgia WR A.J. Green has been training hard to maximize the rest of his career after missing all of the 2019 season due to injury.

Former Georgia wide receiver A.J. Green has missed the past 23 of the Cincinnati Bengals’ 24 games due to injuries, but that hasn’t slowed him down off the field one bit.

Green has been involved in some intense offseason training routines, trying to prove to the football world he is still one of the leagues top receivers in the game.  Green’s longtime trainer, 61-year-old former body builder Curtis Winters, says Green’s ankle is healthy as ever.  Green has been training with Winters since entering the NFL, making the trips to an Atlanta strip mall that is home to Winters’ “‘80’s-style gym” between a laundromat and a dollar store, Ben Baby of ESPN reported.

“Even though I don’t think he has anything to prove, I think he wanted to prove to everybody he is the person they thought he was originally,” Winters said.

Green has ranked fourth in receiving yards since entering the league in 2011 through 2018.  The question now is whether Green can stay healthy or not.

The Bengals did not offer Green a long-term deal due to injury concerns.  Instead they opted to use the franchise tag and evaluate Green after the 2020 season.  He will make $18.2 million this year.

“Within a few weeks, I realized his ankle was as strong as it’s ever been,” said Winters.

Green has been working on his injury prevention as well as training.  Green has suffered toe and ankle injuries that have kept him on the sidelines the past two seasons.  He and Reza Hesam, a former Georgia acquaintance who co-founded Adapt Physical Therapy, which focuses on injury prevention, have been working on Green’s landing after going up for balls. Hesam has stated that they worked on Green’s body control as well as landing.

“We did more stuff in testing those ankles, strengthen those ankles, strengthen these toes, learning how to land better,” Green said on July 17th. “Just little things like that I didn’t do in previous years.”

Green could be set for a massive 2020 comeback.  He will have a new quarterback passing to him in Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow, which will be an exciting duo to watch.

Green is 32 and is likely to have four more years of solid football in front of him.  Should he return to his former self, the Bengals could potentially be scary for the rest of the league this year, coming off a 2-14 season.

“I’m tired of seeing everything — ‘A.J. should be a top-10 if he would’ve played,'” Green said. “All right, let’s get the season started and we can get this thing settled.”