The past year for Cincinnati Bengals first-round pick Amarius Mims has been filled with injuries, and he now has an NFL injury to get through.
Head coach Zac Taylor announced Monday afternoon that Mims has a pectoral strain and will miss "several" weeks.
Several weeks in this instance, according to Taylor, is more than two but fewer than many. It's intended to be ambiguous as he doesn't want to set any specific timeline for Mims to return.
The regular season begins in exactly 27 days for Cincinnati. Mims could be back by then, or he could he be recovering into the season. Regardless, Taylor didn't sound too worried about this being a major issue for Mims.
"He has done everything he can to put himself in position to be a great player for us immediately," Taylor said . "This is a minor setback."
A minor setback, yes, but one that will surely kill the momentum he had for starting at right tackle in Week 1.
Mims has been practicing with the starters since the middle of the offseason. He's taken all the reps during training camp, and played 15 snaps during Saturday's preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He's looked great doing all of this , which only strengthened the case for him to stay in the starting lineup.
More importantly, Mims being healthy has allowed him to get valuable reps that he missed last year in college. An ankle injury took him out for several weeks during Georgia's 2023 campaign.
Missing two weeks of practice and preseason games isn't ideal for a player in his position. It's a hindrance for his development, and the perception of his durability will take a hit as well.
From the perspective of the entire team, the Mims news was countered out by Taylor revealing that Trent Brown will return to team drills this week. Brown, a 10-year veteran, was signed this offseason to compete for the starting right tackle gig.
Brown was placed on the Non-Football Injury list to start camp, and has been off the list for over a week. He's slowly been rehabbing back to practice, and will take over with the starters while Mims is out.
The Bengals will still have a starting-caliber right tackle to work with, but the outlook for the offensive line appeared much brighter when both Mims and Brown were set to be available.
They'll hope for that to be the case when September arrives.
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