Zac Taylor Details Cashius Howell Absence, Swing Tackle Battle Following Bears Preseason Clash

The Bengals don't have another injury to monitor on defense as training camp rips into the back-half sessions. Rookie defensive end Cashius Howell limped a bit at the end of joint practice on Thursday and did not dress for the second preseason game on Saturday, but it was just because he's gotten so many reps in recent weeks.

Zac Taylor spoke to the media after the game and updated his status along with other comments about the 27-9 outing for Cincinnati.

"Yeah, just decided to hold him out. He's got a ton of reps over the last couple of weeks, and we just held him out," Taylor said about Howell

Cincinnati rolled out an all-backup lineup during the latest contest against Chicago. Names like Colbie Young and Dohnte Meyers continued to flash, while the back end of the edge-rushing hierarchy got long looks for Cincinnati in Howell's absence.

Taylor noted the backup swing tackle battle is still open entering the final week of the preseason.

Andrew Coker, Jalen Rivers and Cody Ford are fighting for that role.

"If a backup tackle's got to go in the game, and we want to keep playing the way that we play, you just got to be all trusted in the game. And so I think there's plenty of competition there, and we still got two weeks to go with it," Taylor said about what he wants to see from someone who captures the job.

All eyes are on the defensive injuries that include, Shemar Stewart, Bryan Cook, and Dax Hill. We will get more updates on them next week, but the backups shined in the blowout win at home.

"I thought our guys did a great job leveraging the ball, getting the ball to the ground. Did a good job taking away some some downfield throws, making them check it down underneath. So I just thought overall that they they played very clean," Taylor said.

Cincinnati is off on Sunday as they prepare for another week of training camp in the dog days of August. They close the preseason at Philadelphia next Friday.

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