The Cincinnati Bengals are ready to rock and roll in Madrid against the Atlanta Falcons for the most part, but there is a bit of concern surrounding their typically-deep defensive line.
Bengals defensive end Cedric Johnson is questionable for Sunday with an ankle injury. This is not so great news, because rookie second-round pick Cashius Howell is now on injured reserve after undergoing wrist surgery.
The only other Bengal who we know is out for sure is safety Kyle Dugger, as that quad injury still keeps giving him serious problems. But who else might be inactive for Week 9? Let's project 'em.
Bengals predicted Week 9 inactives list
- S Kyle Dugger
- OT Myles Hinton
- DE Cedric Johnson
- C Connor Lew
- DT Landon Robinson
The smart move in the bigger picture is to try to get by without Johnson on Sunday. Plus, it creates an organic opportunity to see what 2025 17th overall pick Shemar Stewart can do.
Stewart keeps getting semi-gassed up by the coaching staff publicly. I refuse to believe he's good until he proves it on the field. After a disastrous rookie campaign, Stewart seems to have his head on straighter this year. It was a bummer that he missed most of training camp, but he's been healthy for a while now and still can't crack the Bengals' rotation.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor suggested that the depth of Cincinnati's defensive line has more to do with Stewart seeing so little action than anything else.
“Well, I've seen a lot of positive from Shemar. the The good part for our team is we have a really deep defensive line group, and and that's hasn't been about what Shemar’s been doing, right or wrong. It's been we've had a really strong group, but now he's going to get more of an… pic.twitter.com/GhzKoqYLeN
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) November 6, 2026
Well let's hope that's true. Because it'd be awesome to, you know, be able to count on a freaking mid-first-round-pick in Year 2 with Howell out of action and Johnson ailing.
Moving on to the rest of the inactive predictions. It's sad that Dugger is becoming more and more of a mainstay on this list. The safety group is really thin in Cincinnati. Tough time to be reminded that Jessie Bates will be on the Falcons' side of the field on Sunday. Really wish he was still around, ya know?
Speaking of inactives list staples, rookie defensive tackle Landon Robinson is a weekly feature. The same is true for backup swing tackle Myles Hinton.
I get why Hinton is never up. The Bengals have Javon Foster there to back up Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims. What I don't get is how Robinson is never given a chance, especially with how lacking in juice Kris Jenkins Jr. is in perpetuity. I expect the wait for Robinson's NFL debut to continue for yet another week.
Last but not least, probable Ted Karras successor Connor Lew makes sense to hold out. Jacob Bayer has more positional versatility and can play center in a pinch. No need to expose the rookie if it can be avoided. And Karras has been rather lights-out this year so far, which you love to see.
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