What’s going on with Bengals’ franchise player A.J. Green?

Where is Cincinnati Bengals wideout A.J. Green?

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Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green didn’t seem like he was even on the field during his team’s 19-7 loss to the Miami Dolphins in Week 13.

Those who didn’t watch the game — and many who did — probably wouldn’t know any better.

Green, playing on the $18.171 million franchise tag, caught no passes on one target. It was his second game in a row without a catch and the third time in four games.

Put another way, Green has caught six passes on 23 targets over his last five games.

Green has completely disappeared, which is wild because he’s played at least 79 percent of the offense’s snaps in every game dating back through Week 6. His highest outputs of the season were 82- and 96-yard showings. He’s scored once.

There’s also this from last Sunday, when both teams were involved in a major scuffle (that’s Green off on the far left with his hands behind his back):

Granted, nobody is saying Green needs to get out there and throw hands (Jalen Ramsey wasn’t on the field, after all).

But something would be nice. Green had that weird thing earlier this year when it looked like he was asking to be traded. He put zero effort into stopping an interception return, instead hiking it upfield to avoid contact.

It’s a shame Green’s tenure appears to be ending on such a note, and there aren’t easy answers to the questions. Is he done? Is he just getting used wrong? The former has some credibility because he’s older now and has been routinely hurt. But so does the latter because this coaching staff has angered franchise greats like Carlos Dunlap, too.

Whatever it is, there appear to be four games standing between Green, the Bengals and a split.

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