Chidobe Awuzie, Trae Waynes returning

Three hours before the Cincinnati Bengals game started on Sunday, cornerback Chidobe Awuzie was the only player on the field.

After missing two practices during the week due to a foot injury, Awuzie was testing his foot to see if he could play against the San Francisco 49ers. Since Awuzie has been the Bengals best cornerback all season, the coaching staff waited as long as possible to make a final decision on his status for the game.

Awuzie played 58 snaps and was one of the Bengals best players, contributing six tackles and two pass breakups. But with 49 seconds left in regulation, Awuzie’s foot injury flared back up, and he missed the rest of the fourth quarter and overtime.

On Monday, Awuzie said he hopes to play this week against the Denver Broncos. 

“It's Week 14, so yeah, it's something I'm probably gonna have to deal with,” Awuzie said. “It's just going to be a battle.”

It was the exact situation Bengals head coach Zac Taylor feared when he put together the 48-man active roster for Sunday’s game. It was a possibility that influenced whether or not the Bengals would activate another cornerback, who the coaching staff had planned to start alongside Awuzie all season. 

Bengals cornerback Trae Waynes, the highest-paid cornerback on the roster, had been cleared to practice earlier in the week after missing two months with a hamstring injury. Taylor said he was optimistic that Waynes could return from a hamstring injury to play against the 49ers.

Waynes had been out since October with his second hamstring injury of the season. The Bengals signed him to a three-year deal in 2020 because of his physical style and his consistency as a tackler. It was the type of cornerback the Bengals could have used against San Francisco. 

Taylor said since Waynes had missed so much time, Waynes likely would have only been available to play 15-to-20 snaps. With the uncertainty of Awuzie’s status, the Bengals decided to not activate Waynes and keep cornerbacks Vernon Hargreaves and Tre Flowers on the active gameday roster.

If Awuzie and Waynes had both been active and then Awuzie and Waynes both had to leave the game with injuries, the Bengals would have been close to running out of cornerbacks. 

“What if (Awuzie) goes out early in the game and all of a sudden Trae is the active body instead of Vernon Hargreaves, Tre Flowers or anybody in that DB room?” Taylor said. “Come Saturday it was just a determination, let's not activate (Waynes) yet, see how it goes next week and then make a decision.”

The Bengals outside cornerback group remains a work in progress due to Awuzie and Waynes’ lingering injuries. The Bengals finished the 49ers game with Eli Apple on the field alongside Vernon Hargreaves III, who the Bengals claimed in November. Behind Hargreaves, the Bengals have Flowers and Jalen Davis, who has been a backup all season.

Due to the injuries, the Bengals have four different combinations of starting cornerbacks they could use this week against the Denver Broncos. If Awuzie is fully healthy, then he’ll start alongside either Waynes or Apple. If Waynes is also healthy, the coaching staff will have to make a decision between Waynes and Apple, who has played extremely well since the Bengals' bye week.