Monday Night Football tonight features a battle between two AFC North rivals when the Cincinnati Bengals travel to Cleveland to take on the Browns. Let’s take a look at the NFL inactives for the game tonight. What did each team’s final injury report look like, and who’ll be out for this crucial matchup?
NFL Inactives for Monday Night Football
Game-day NFL rules only allow teams to “dress” 48 players each week. However, with teams often having between 53 and 55 players on their active roster (including practice squad call-ups), they must designate the other players as inactive.
Cincinnati Bengals Inactives
WR Ja’Marr Chase
WR Stanley Morgan
CB Eli Apple
HB Trayveon Williams
DT Josh Tupou
OT D’Ante Smith
G Jackson Carman
Cleveland Browns Inactives
QB Kellen Mond
CB Denzel Ward
LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah
T Chris Hubbard
G Wyatt Teller
TE David Njoku
DT Perrion Winfrey
Latest Bengals and Browns Injury Report
Bengals Week 8 Injury Report
The list of potential NFL inactives for the Bengals is quite short. They have already ruled out star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase alongside Stanley Morgan Jr. and Josh Tupou. Chase was obviously the big news this week when the team announced that he would miss time due to a hip injury.
MORE: Ja’Marr Chase Injury Fallout
Although early indication was that Chase would need between 4-6 weeks to recover, head coach Zac Taylor confirmed that they would not be placing the WR on IR. This means they are optimistic he could be back ahead of the four-week minimum required for that roster designation.
Browns Week 8 Injury Report
The Browns’ injury report was a lengthy one this week. They have already ruled out four players for this Monday Night Football matchup, including tight end David Njoku. Although the injury is not considered serious, there are questions surrounding how long Njoku will be out. The Browns’ tight end has been optimistic that his ankle issue wouldn’t sideline him for too long.
“We’ll see,” Njoku said at his locker Thursday. “It’s feeling better every day, so hopefully we can just see how it progresses.”
Njoku is currently enjoying a hot start to his season and is second on the Browns with 418 receiving yards and one touchdown on 34 catches.
At cornerback, the Browns have already ruled out Denzel Ward and could be down as many as three of their top players, with Greg Newsome II and Greedy Williams both questionable. Head coach Kevin Stefanski was asked about the tough situation in his secondary but was confident that the team could find success with the guys they have available to them.
“It’s one of those situations where you have to see who is available to you and you have to go play, and you have to go play our brand of football,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “If those guys can’t go, the next man has to step up.”
The Browns will need all the help they can get when going up against a Bengals offense that is currently eighth in the league in points scored per game and fifth in the league in passing yards per game. However, this will be the first week we will see the Bengals’ offense without Ja’Marr Chase, which could play in Cleveland’s favor.