Belief that Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green would make his 2019 debut against the Ravens this Sunday existed for a brief moment on Wednesday, but it has been snuffed out.
Head coach Zac Taylor said in a press conference that Green would be in the lineup, but practice went on without Green a short time later. Taylor met with reporters again to say that Green’s ankle didn’t feel right after a walkthrough and that the wideout was now considered day-to-day rather than likely to play.
Thursday was Green’s turn to meet with the media and extinguish any remaining hope he’d play. He said his ankle swelled and, as a result, he is not ready to return to game action.
“I can’t go out there when I’m not 100 percent . . . It’s all about making sure I’m taking care of myself first. Everything else comes after that,” Green said, via Jay Morrison of TheAthletic.com.
Quarterback Ryan Finley will have to make do without Green in his first NFL start and the unrelenting wait for Green to get healthy does little to erase the thought that he could miss the entire year.