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Hudson

He’ll be sent to injured reserve. Hudson tore his pec in Week 5’s win over the Dolphins. The injury will likely keep him sidelined for the remainder of the regular season. Hudson had played 28 percent of the team’s offensive snaps and seen seven targets through five games, mostly functioning as a blocker. Drew Sample would see more snaps with Hudson sidelined.

Hudson saw three targets on the day, catching a Joe Burrow touchdown pass towards the end of the first half. The Bengals used all of their tight ends against Miami; Hudson saw 19 snaps while Mike Gesicki saw 28 and Erick All and Drew Sample tied with 33 snaps. It was a run-heavy day for Cincy, but the four tight ends all combined for nine targets. All caught all three of his targets for 25 yards while Sample caught his only target for five yards.

Hudson, 31, was playing on an expiring deal this season but is now locked in for 2026. The veteran tight end played on 148 offensive snaps this season, per PFF, and has never been used as anything more than a backup since entering the league in 2019. He caught 19 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns this season.

He cleared concussion protocol and will return as a thorn in the side for Noah Fant-reliant fantasy managers in Week 8. Hudson has no standalone value, but he does leech off valuable snaps.

Hudson’s expected return bodes poorly for TE Noah Fant’s target-earning potential, though Fant should still run as the primary positional receiver. Hudson sat out in Week 7, allowing Fant to operate as a streaming TE1. Fant caught 4-of-4 targets for 44 yards and one touchdown.

Hendrickson is sidelined by a hip injury, though the Bengals fortunately get EDGE Shemar Stewart (ankle) back after a four-game absence. Taylor-Britt has evidently been benched in favor of CB Josh Newton this week. The Bengals’ offense lost two tight ends last week, with Hudson suffering a concussion and Mike Gesicki suffering a pectoral injury that landed him on injured reserve this week. Bengals TE Noah Fant is suddenly on the streaming TE1 radar as a result.

Mike Gesicki was placed on injured reserve earlier this week, meaning Noah Fant is now the only tight end of note available for the Bengals tomorrow. Expect Joe Flacco to lock on to his start receivers versus Pittsburgh, but Fant is at least in the TE2 mix as a player who could approach a 100 percent route rate.

Gesicki will miss at least four games after sustaining a knee injury last week against the Packers. Noah Fant and Tanner HUdson split tight end routes after Gesicki exited the game; Hudson saw five targets while Fant saw four from Joe Flacco. Fant would be the slight favorite to be the team’s nominal TE1 going forward, as he’s been targeted on a strong 30 percent of his pass routes in 2025.

He’ll almost certainly be ruled out. Noah Fant has some TE2 and single-game slate upside on Thursday night with Mike Gesicki likely heading to injured reserve and Hudson not stealing snaps from him. That’ll leave just Fant and Drew Sample as oft-used cogs of the Bengals tight end room that are still healthy enough for Week 7.

It’s an estimated DNP, but we almost never see someone clear protocol ahead of a Thursday night game. With Mike Gesicki also likely out, it looks like Noah Fant may have some stream appeal as a TE2 as the Bengals are forced to rely heavily on him and Drew Sample in their well-stocked tight end platoon.