The Bengals have lost a member of their tight end corps for the rest of the season.
Tight end Tanner Hudson’s agent told Charlie Clifford of WLWT that Hudson is out for the year due to a torn pectoral. The injury occurred during the Bengals’ win over the Dolphins in Week 5.
Hudson caught a two-yard touchdown pass in the 31-24 win and had three catches for 14 yards overall. He had four catches for 19 yards in the first four weeks of the season.
Hudson is in his fourth season with the Bengals and is set to be a free agent in 2027.
Mike Gesicki, Erick All, Drew Sample, and Jack Endries are the team’s remaining tight ends.
Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase was fined twice for making an obscene gesture during the team’s Week 2 win over the Texans, but he won’t be forking over any money to the league.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Chase won his appeal of both fines. The two fines totaled $29,852.
Chase was fined for a celebration with wide receiver Tee Higgins that he said was a riff on The Rock’s “the people’s elbow” wrestling maneuver, but which others interpreted to be a reference to a phallus. The letter from the appeals office said Chase argued that he received no warning that this celebration ran afoul of the rules and that the interpretation about its meaning was incorrect.
“He added that this is a new celebration with his teammate and that it is not offensive,” the letter says. “Mr. Chase finally stated that the NFL is assuming the worst of him and his teammate without discussing with the NFLPA.”
Higgins was fined multiple times for the same reason, but there is no word about the result of any appeal he may have filed in response to the penalties.
The Bengals announced a couple of roster moves involving linebackers on Monday afternoon.
They have claimed Jack Kiser off of waivers from the Jaguars. He will take the roster spot of Swayze Bozeman, who has been placed on injured reserve after injuring his forearm in Sunday’s win over the Dolphins.
Kiser did not play in any games for the Jaguars before being waived on Saturday. The 2025 fourth-round pick played in 14 games as a rookie and recorded 14 tackles while seeing most of his playing time on special teams.
Bozeman had four tackles in four appearances for the Bengals this season. He has also played for the Giants and Chiefs.
On a day when the temperature on the field in Miami hit 100 degrees, Joe Burrow was hot and the Dolphins were not.
Burrow threw four touchdown passes against a hapless Dolphins defense. The Dolphins’ offense couldn’t overcome the frequent mistakes from Malik Willis, who threw two interceptions and fumbled twice. Willis made some plays in garbage time to make his stats and the score look better than they really were, but Cincinnati rolled to an easy 31-24 win.
Burrow spread the ball around, with Ja’Marr Chase, Tanner Hudson, Samaje Perine and Mike Gesicki all catching touchdown passes. The Dolphins’ defense, which never sacked Burrow, made it easy for him to find open receivers.
The 0-5 Dolphins may be the worst team in the NFL, and they may want to be the worst team in the NFL. This isn’t a team that’s built to win, it’s a team that’s built to get a high pick in the draft and hope to win some day in the future.
The 3-2 Bengals look like they could win this year. In a wide-open AFC North, the Bengals look like contenders.
The Vikings had both of their top wide receivers listed as questionable on their final injury report of Week 5 and the gameday decisions went in different directions.
Justin Jefferson will play after missing last Sunday’s win over the Dolphins with an ankle injury, but Jordan Addison will miss the game with a hamstring injury. There was some thought that Odell Beckham Jr. would make his Vikings debut on Sunday, but he is also inactive.
Beckham signed to the practice squad this week and was elevated on Saturday, but Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said he’d only play if the team was missing one of the other wideouts. They are, but Beckham is still out of the lineup. Jauan Jennings, Tai Felton, Myles Price, and practice squad elevation Jeshaun Jones are the other wideouts.
Vikings at Saints
Vikings: WR Jordan Addison, WR Odell Beckham Jr., S Jakobe Thomas, QB Max Brosmer, CB Chuck Demmings, OT Christian Darrisaw, DL Elijah Williams
Saints: QB Zach Wilson, LB Anfernee Jennings, S Mike Reid, LB Kaden Elliss, G Jeremiah Wright, DL Vernon Broughton, DL Nathan Shepherd
Bears at Packers
Bears: QB Caleb Williams, RB Kyle Monangai, OL Ozzy Trapilo, LB Keyshaun Elliott, DL Jamree Kromah, DL Jayden Loving.
Packers: OL Jacob Monk, OL Aaron Banks, OL Donovan Jennings, DL Anthony Campbell
Bengals at Dolphins
Bengals: S Kyle Dugger, OT Myles Hinton, TE Jack Endries, WR Colbie Young, OL Connor Lew, DT Landon Robinson
Dolphins: WR Caleb Douglas, RB Kaytron Allen, CB Reese Taylor, DE Rob Beal, OL DJ Campbell, TE Justin Joly, OL Chukwuebuka Godrick
Raiders at Patriots
Raiders: WR Jalen Nailor, S Tristin McCollum, S Dalton Johnson, C Trey Zuhn, DT J.J. Pegues, RB Roman Hemby, QB Aidan O’Connell
Patriots: QB Behren Morton, OT Dametrious Crownover, CB Christian Gonzalez, CB Carlton Davis, CB Karon Prunty, CB Channing Canada
Browns at Jets
Browns: QB Taylen Green, WR Tylan Wallace, TE Carsen Ryan, C Parker Brailsford, G Teven Jenkins, DT Mike Hall Jr., DT Mason Graham
Jets: RB Breece Hall, WR Adonai Mitchell, G Dylan Parham, LB Nate Lynn, LB Kiko Mauigoa, CB Nahshon Wright
Colts at Steelers
Colts: LB Jaylon Carlies, WR Ashton Dulin, QB Riley Leonard, WR Darius Slayton, G Dalton Tucker
Steelers: RB Rico Dowdle, QB Drew Allar, QB Will Howard, RB Eli Heidenreich, CB Jamel Dean, CB Terell Smith, DL Kevin Jobity
Texans at Titans
Texans: CB Collin Wright, DE Chris Braswell, DE Sabastian Harsh, LB Aiden Fisher, G Febechi Nwaiwu, OT Nate Thomas, TE Marlin Klein
Titans: RB Nick Singleton, RB Michael Carter, S Amani Hooker, CB Jaylon Jones, T Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, TE David Martin-Robinson, DT Jackie Marshall
Giants at Commanders
Giants: RB Devin Singletary, OL J.C. Davis, DL Bobby Jamison-Travis, S Jason Pinnock, CB Nikko Reed, QB Jake Haener
Commanders: WR Stefon Diggs, QB Marcus Mariota, S Tyler Owens, S Nick Cross, S Percy Butler, G Tanoa Togiai, DE Charles Omenihu
Dolphins defensive lineman Kenneth Grant is set to make his 2026 debut.
Grant was activated from injured reserve on Saturday, which clears the way for him to play against the Bengals on Sunday. He has been sidelined by a toe injury.
The Dolphins took Grant with the 13th overall pick in the 2025 draft. He had 33 tackles and two sacks during his rookie season.
Quarterback Brady Cook was waived to make room for Grant on the 53-man roster. Kyle McCord is now the sole backup to Malik Willis in Miami.
The Dolphins also announced that they have elevated defensive end Rodney McGraw and running back Carlos Washington.
Bengals wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins both took part in practice on Friday, but the team isn’t saying if either of them will play against the Dolphins this weekend.
Head coach Zac Taylor said at a press conference on Friday that both players will be listed as questionable. Chase remains in the concussion protocol, but will likely play if he is cleared on Saturday. Higgins is dealing with an adductor injury.
Dohnte Meyers, Mitchell Tinsley, and Colbie Young are the other wideouts on the 53-man roster, although Young will also be listed as questionable with a knee injury.
Taylor put safety Bryan Cook (ankle) in the questionable category as well. Cook missed last Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars, but returned to practice on Thursday.
NFL players and coaches spend many hours studying film of their upcoming opponents to find tendencies that can give them an advantage on Sunday. Bengals safety Jordan Battle found such a tendency with Sunday’s opponent, Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis.
For some reason, Battle decided to tell the press about it before the game, giving Willis and the Dolphins an opportunity to fix it before Sunday.
Battle told reporters in the Bengals’ locker room that Willis has a tell that lets the defense know when he’s about to throw the ball, so Battle and his fellow defensive backs can break on the ball a split-second earlier. Or at least they can if Willis doesn’t fix it, now that Battle blabbed.
“He has a little slight little tap before every throw though, so I feel like we could use that as a key to break on the ball,” Battle said. “He likes to tap the ball before he throws it, or he takes his hand off, and that that gives the read the break. He’s obviously dangerous with his feet. We know we’ve got to be alert for that. Third and longs, they will run quarterback draws, and in the passing game, he will extend plays. So we’ve got to be good downfield. DBs are plastering, so we got to be alert for that. He will take chances. We just got to be on, be alert on guys where they line up.”
Battle and the Bengals made a good observation in their film study. Battle’s coaches and teammates may be asking him why on earth he thought it was a good idea to broadcast that observation to the public before the game.
Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase has taken a step toward clearing the concussion protocol.
Pictures and video from the open portion of Thursday’s practice show Chase dressed for and participating in the workout. Chase suffered a concussion last Sunday and did not do any work on Wednesday.
Chase’s reaction to the uptick in activity will mark the next box for him to check in the return to play process. If that goes well and he practices again on Friday without any issues, the chances he’ll play against the Dolphins on Sunday will look pretty good.
Tee Higgins left the loss to the Jaguars with an adductor injury, but he practiced on Wednesday and Thursday’s development keeps the door open for the Bengals to have both wideouts on the field in Week 5.
After the Bengals had just 13 designed runs for 18 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars, Joe Burrow’s response was, “Let’s throw it more.”
After letting the result digest for a few days, Burrow backtracked on that sentiment in his Wednesday press conference.
“I might have been a little emotional after the game,” Burrow said, via Geoff Hobson of the team’s website. Hobson noted Burrow had a wide smile when he delivered the remark. “Obviously, you want to have balance as an offense, and the run game wasn’t good enough on Sunday, and I feel confident in myself that you put it in my hands and I’m going to make it work.”
The Bengals finished with just 23 total rushing yards on 15 attempts in the loss to the Jags — the lowest output of Burrow’s 81 career starts. Burrow’s 54 passing attempts were the third most he’s had in his career.
“When you get into a game like Sunday, and they’re a really good defense, really good front seven, and I felt like we were moving the ball pretty well in the pass game,” Burrow said. “I could have been better in spots to help our guys and not put our defense in bad positions with the turnovers. We’ve got to be more balanced going forward, and a big part of that is the run game.”
To that end, Burrow noted Cincinnati may start more plays from under center instead of shotgun.
“I’m comfortable doing whatever is needed and will execute my best,” Burrow said. “We obviously have to be better at it. We’re still going to stick with it and keep getting reps invested in that. I think it’s very valuable, so we have to be able to do it. But we need to be better.
“Under center play actions are built off the run game. Teams have to respect the run first and foremost so you don’t just get jet rushers off the edge. That just puts your offensive linemen in a bad spot when they’re trying to sell run but the defense isn’t respecting the run and just rushing the passer. That’s not a recipe for success, so that starts with the run.”
The Bengals will try to get their ground game going on the road against the Dolphins in Week 5.
