Zac Taylor Details Multiple Bengals Injury Issues Entering Jaguars Practices

The Bengals return to practice today with a lot to change up in the secondary. Head coach Zac Taylor discussed all the roster moves the team made this week on the outside of its offense and defense.

On the latter, the team signed two safeties to its practice squad, with Byan Cook and Kyle Dugger working through injuries. Then on offense, the dings to Colbie Young and Andrei Iosivas prompted them to sign Mitchell Tinsley. He helps with the depth and takes some burden off of Dohnte Meyers, who is back at both returner spots after the team released Ke'Shawn Williams following his game-changing mistakes in the Steelers loss.

Oh, and Jalen Davis is on injured reserve, so Dax Hill is back at slot cornerback, while DJ Ivey is flashing outside to complete the starting CB brigade with DJ Turner II.

A lot of moving parts as Taylor updated all the injuries on Wednesday, noting "day-to-day" status for Dugger and Cook. Those two are not practicing on Wednesday. Young, Iosivas, and Davis are definitely not playing this week, while the other names are up in the air. A return from B.J. Hill and his sore Achilles would be huge for a defense that needs all the star power it can get right now.

"PJ's (Jules) has been right there practicing the whole time. So feel good about the depth, but we'll see where those guys are tomorrow," Taylor said about Cook and Dugger before updating the timeline for Ja'Sir Taylor, who's been on IR all season as the backup slot cornerback. "Close, we'll get through this week into the (return) window and then evaluate it next week to see how close he is to returning."

It's life in the NFL, and why offseason team building is so important when it comes to position depth. That whole secondary is going to have to row together to weather this storm, especially when most of them were a part of the NFL's worst yards per play defense in 2025.

The Steelers' defensive performance looked more and more like that once the injuries began piling up in the game. Dexter Lawrence can't do it all for that unit, even with the gravity he's creating as the most-double-teamed defensive tackle in the sport this season.

Cincinnati is returning to practice today and preparing for a 1 p.m. ET battle with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

Dexter Lawrence is still drawing... quite a bit... of attention 😂

Build your own chart on PFF PROhttps://t.co/tmCPhQgchQ pic.twitter.com/i204wLBGV0
— PFF (@PFF) September 29, 2026

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon.

Add us as a preferred source on Google