Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green practiced on Wednesday and said that he will play against the Broncos this weekend after missing the last three games with a toe injury.
The Bengals lost all three of those games and they’ve lost five of their last six games overall to fall to 5-6 on the season. That leaves them on the fringes of the playoff race and quarterback Andy Dalton’s season-ending thumb injury may have some thinking about next season.
Green does not count himself in that camp. He was shut down before the end of the season in 2016 because of an injury, but said that is “not happening this year” and affirmed his commitment to the only team he has played for in the NFL.
“My goal when I got drafted was to always stay in one place the whole time,” Green said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “No matter what the situation was. I want to win, I want to bring something to this city. I don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, A.J. left because he wasn’t winning.’ It’s not about football, that’s just who I am to stay loyal to whoever gave me an opportunity. It’s been fun. I wouldn’t rather be nowhere else. In tough times that’s why I’m here, try to lead these guys and get this thing back on the road and for the future. I have one more year on my contract and then we’ll see what happens.”
There were signs that the Bengals were ready to make a coaching change as the 2017 season came to an end, but Marvin Lewis wound up remaining in place. Should that change come this season, it will be interesting to see what else will change in Cincinnati and that includes the possibility that Green and others would move on in a reset of the Bengals franchise.
