Cincinnati Bengals: Trae Waynes slated to miss Week 2

The 29-year-old Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Trae Waynes is expected to miss his second straight game (or 18th straight if you count last season) after being ruled out Monday by head coach Zac Taylor.

This continues the saga dating back to last season, where Waynes has yet to play a single game in a Cincinnati uniform.

Waynes and the Bengals agreed to a three-year $42 million deal in the offseason last year, but Waynes injured his pectoral in training camp, which ruled him out for the entire 2020 NFL season.

Currently, Waynes is battling a lingering hamstring injury that will cause him not to play vs. the Chicago Bears which will more than likely draw another start from Eli Apple, who had some questionable play against the Vikings but as a whole played well enough to draw another start.

Waynes will now be missing his 18th consecutive game since joining the Bengals

Trae Waynes is a very talented corner and is expected to be the guy that lines up alongside Chidobe Awuzie as the two starters at the position. Still, with him being prone to injury, it makes you rethink if this move was the right one and what the Bengals should do moving forward.

However, they have yet to place him on IR, which is good news because they hope that he is close enough to a return where it won’t be necessary.

They also have a matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road in Week 3, so having him healthy and back for that game could be very important and could be the anticipation behind Zac Taylors’ thought process.

At the end of the day, this injury could cause him to miss even more time or we could see him make his debut next week but the concern just continues to grow each game that Waynes does not play. There remains one year left on his contract after this season through 2022.