On the same day, the Cincinnati Bengals lost running back Chris Evans for the entire season with a torn patellar tendon, it appears they lost an offensive lineman, too.
Read more: Bengals RB Chris Evans Suffers Knee Injury, Out For Season
ESPN’s Ben Baby and Jeremy Fowler reported on Friday that Bengals offensive tackle D’Ante Smith also suffered a patellar tendon injury, and is expected to miss the entire 2024 season. The report states that MRI results are “expected to confirm the exact nature of the injury,” but it’s one that will likely keep him out for the entirety of the 2024 NFL season.
Smith’s injury came minutes after Evans went down with what turned out to be a torn patellar tendon. Now, the Bengals will be without both of them as they look to improve upon a 2023 season in which they went 9-8 and missed the playoffs in a loaded AFC North division.
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Smith was selected by the Bengals in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of East Carolina University. The 26-year-old has appeared in three games with Cincinnati since 2021, starting one of them. He has a total of 56 snaps on offense and five on special teams.
Smith is one of the many Bengals linemen who have been banged up during camp. Rookie first-round pick Amarius Mims, who the Bengals selected No. 18 overall, will miss multiple weeks with a strained pectoral muscle. Veteran Trent Brown, who signed a one-year deal with the Bengals this offseason and was taking reps in place of Mims, left practice on Thursday with back tightness.
More news: Bengals Extend Key Player Ahead of 2024 NFL Season
The Bengals have put an emphasis on protecting Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow as he enters his fifth season in the NFL. The 27-year-old has played just two full seasons in the NFL and appeared in just 10 games in both 2020 and 2023 due to season-ending injuries. In 2020, he tore his ACL and MCL in his left knee. Last year, he suffered a torn ligament in his right wrist.
Burrow was sacked a league-high 51 times in 2021. In 2022, that number dropped to 41 times. Last year, Bengals quarterbacks were sacked 49 times, per StatMuse.
The Bengals know they need to keep Burrow healthy if they want any chance of getting back to the postseason and Super Bowl. However, their depth has taken yet another hit with the latest injury to Smith.
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