Latest Moves Shows Bengals Once Promising Prospect Could Be Out in Cincinnati

CINCINNATI — Bengals wide receiver Jermaine Burton was inactive for Sunday's game against the Patriots. Burton hasn't been active all season, despite being healthy.

Sunday appeared to be an ideal time for him to play with Ja'Marr Chase suspended, but the Bengals opted to have only four active wide receivers.

This tells you everything you need to know about how the Bengals view Burton. This week should've been a chance for him to show the team, fans and himself that he can make plays and belongs in this league. Instead, he's inactive for a 12th-straight game (he was inactive in Week 18 last season).

Burton has had his fair share of issues, both off and on the field. As a rookie he showed up late to meetings and practices. Sometimes sleeping through practice.

The Bengals invested a high pick in Burton, taking him in the third round (80th overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft. He only caught four passes for 107 yards as a rookie.

"When you get to this point in your career you gotta grow up,' Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton said at the time. "You're a grown man. Nobody is going to baby you anymore.”

Burton appeared to have an encouraging offseason, but that hasn't translated to the regular season.

"He made a lot of plays early in camp. Jermaine's best when you when you can get him in a true one-on-one matchup down the sideline," Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said in August. "He can track the ball in the air. He's got tremendous ball skills, [he] didn't have a lot of opportunity to show that the other night. The single word I keep coming back to Jermaine is just consistency, right? You don't have a lot of opportunity the other night. How do we respond? How do how do we go about our day-to-day professional job? And that's that's we'll just continue to be the emphasis with him."

Sunday's decision to make inactive shows the Bengals will likely move on from Burton this offseason, if not sooner.

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