One of the lone bright spots early on this season for the Cincinnati Bengals has been the mini breakout skilled wide receiver John Ross has enjoyed through the first few games. Drafted with a top ten selection just a few years ago in the 2017 NFL Draft, Ross has elite talent but was yet to produce until this season.
Now it seems his campaign will be marred with another injury, something that has plagued his young NFL career already. Ross banged up his shoulder after reeling in a slant route and being slammed to the turf by cornerback Joe Haden in their 27-3 Monday night loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers. According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Ross will miss multiple games with his shoulder injury and his estimated return will be in around a month.
#Bengals WR John Ross is expected to miss multiple games with a shoulder injury suffered last night vs. the #Steelers, sources say. Could be in the range of a month or so.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 1, 2019
Anytime a team stumbles out of the gates at 0-4, it hurts that much more when a player goes down to injury, especially when it’s a key contributor. Somewhat forgotten coming into this season, Ross reminded many of those who wrote him off why he was so highly touted coming out of Washington.
Ross exploded for 158 yards and two touchdowns in their opener versus Seattle before another touchdown and 112 more yards in their second game against San Francisco. While Ross was limited to only two receptions against an elite Bills defense in Week 3, it was clear that the speedster was taking on a much more involved role with AJ Green sidelined.
Ross was an ideal complement to Tyler Boyd as a second receiver and his ability to make plays down the field early on was incredibly encouraging for his future outlook. Ross may be relegated to third wide receiver duties again upon his return, as Cincinnati figures to have Green back in the fold by then as well. Expect Boyd to still see heaps of targets while others such as Auden Tate should see an uptick in involvement as well.
