Bengals Hakeem Adeniji Might Be Out For Season

The second year player and former sixth round pick out of Kansas appears to be out for the season after head coach Zac Taylor announced he required surgery on a pec injury.

Cincinnati Bengals Hakeem Adeniji was not in attendance at minicamp and when asked, head coach Zac Taylor announced that he required surgery for a pec injury, suggesting he'd be out several months.

That suggests that the second year offensive lineman has suffered a torn pec and surgery would mean he's out for the year. For a team in the Bengals that at least raised a question about their strategy regarding their offensive line after franchise quarterback Joe Burrow missed the season with a severe knee injury, this does not help.

If there's good news, it's that the Bengals will have a chance to go out and seek help now as opposed to during training camp, but Adeniji was at the very least going to compete for the swing tackle spot behind Jonah Williams and free agent signing Reilly Reiff. Fred Johnson becomes the swing tackle by default.

Adeniji was a sixth round pick in the 2020 draft, the only offensive lineman the team drafted that year. He showed some promise and has a nice skill set in terms of physical tools coming out of the University of Kansas.

There's already pressure on the Bengals line to be far better than last year and their depth is also questionable. If they can step up and protect Burrow, allowing him to pick up where left off before the injury, they could be a dangerous offense.

If not or Burrow were to get hurt again, it's going to be an incredibly poor reflection on the organization. A team that has to face the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens that all added more firepower to their pass rush this offseason. As is all too often the case, the Bengals start their season with a major injury that immediately takes some of the hopeful winds out of their sails.

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