Zac Taylor Updates Tee Higgins, Rest of Bengals Injuries Entering Final Three Games This Season

Cincinnati has a bunch of injured players entering the final three games of the season.

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) walks for the sideline after hitting his head for a second time in the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 14 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. The Bills overcame a halftime deficit to win 39-34. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bengals are out of the playoff race this season and have zero reason to rush any injured players back on the field ahead of their next game on the docket.

Head coach Zac Taylor addressed those injury issues on Monday after Cincinnati had multiple players go down against Baltimore. Tee Higgins also missed the game entirely after suffering his second concussion in three weeks last Sunday.

Higgins continues recovering from his concussion after being in the protocol every practice day last week as the team continues to monitor him. Taylor noted he is still in the protocol as of this writing.

"There's nobody I'm ready to say can't go right now," Taylor said about the injury situation in general. "We had a bunch of guys that kind of got nicked up and will be limited throughout the week, but nobody, I'd say, with extreme confidence, can't go on Sunday.

"Maybe as the week progresses, we'll get there. ... Guys that will come up on the injury report are going to be Kris Jenkins, Joseph Osai, Amarius Mims, Noah Fant, Charlie Jones, those are the main ones that strike me right now. But again, we'll keep working through the week and see where those guys end up."

Taylor liked what he saw from Shemar Stewart in his first practice week in a while and he could "possibly" play on Sunday against Miami. The rookie has played in just five games this season due to injury.

Taylor knows the home shutout was "unacceptable" in Sunday's 24-0 loss to Baltimore. It was the first time this decade that Cincinnati failed to score a point in a home game.

"Frustrating. You know, it really starts with our offense getting shut out. That's not who we are. That's unacceptable. Never saw that coming," Taylor said on Sunday. "I think we had five trips to their side of the field and came away with no points. As a play caller, when you walk away with no points, there's a huge amount of accountability I've got to take for that. But it was just, overall, a very frustrating day. I think we did some things that were unorthodox on offense for us ... penalties — silly penalties — that were controllable on our end. You know, we had some possessions where we had opportunities for points and didn't walk away with anything. That was frustrating."

The Bengals battle the Dolphins on the road Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

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