An already struggling Cincinnati Bengals defense will be without one of its best players for the final five games of the season.
Per NFL Media's Mike Garafolo, linebacker Logan Wilson is expected to miss the remainder of the year after having a procedure to clean up his knee Thursday morning.
Wilson, a fifth-year player, has been one of the few bright spots for Cincinnati's defense that ranks 30th in the NFL in EPA/play allowed. His run defense grade of 90.0 from Pro Football Focus ranks third among all starting linebackers this year behind Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah of the Cleveland Browns, and Bobby Wagner of the Washington Commanders.
While he dealt with a few injuries early in his career, Wilson snapped his streak of 40 consecutive games played last week due to this knee injury. A decision has been made to shut him down instead of playing through it.
When Wilson gets moved to the Reserve/Injured list, he'll join cornerbacks Dax Hill, DJ Turner II, and edge defender Cam Sample as key defenders who are out for the year. Rookie tight end Erick All Jr., swing tackle Trent Brown, and running back Zack Moss highlight the long-term losses the offensive side of the ball has suffered. Lest we forget kicker Evan McPherson just got shut down for the year yesterday.
Reality has officially set in now. The Bengals aren't blinded by a meager percentage chance at making the playoffs. They're protecting their players at the end of a lost season.
And it's the right call.
Bengals are moving on to 2025 without having to say it
The Bengals had a chance, a real chance at overcoming an 0-3 start to the year. They worked their way to 4-5 and had three critical AFC contests to fight through. Winning just one of them would keep their heads above water. They took three Ls instead, all by a combined 14 points.
Now at 4-8, there's no real point in asking players to fight through injuries that could be further damaged. The long-term risk simply isn't worth it.
Wilson's procedure may've been foreshadowed a bit here as well. The Bengals signed linebacker Shaka Heyward off the practice squad earlier this week and had to waive wide receiver Trenton Irwin to fit him. This was likely a proactive move while the club waited for more information on Wilson. It will now result in making Heyward the fifth linebacker on the depth chart with Wilson no longer a part of it.
The next big (literally) decision surrounds left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. Cincinnati's nominee for Walter Payton Man of the Year honors is dealing with a fibula injury and Zac Taylor confirmed that Brown was playing through pain on Sunday after missing the previous three games. Backups Devin Cochran and Andrew Stueber are now on the active roster instead of the practice squad potentially take over for Brown if he needs to sit out these final five games.
There's also star players Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Trey Hendrickson to worry about, but I doubt any of them will want to sit out games if they aren't dealing with any painful injury.
2024 is ending with a whisper from the Bengals. Playing through injury isn't going to change that. Now it's time for the rest of the roster to prove if they should survive the incoming roster reset.
