Bengals rookie Amarius Mims suffered injury that could hold him out weeks

Cincinnati Bengals first-round pick Amarius Mims was on track to steal the starting job at right tackle by Week 1.

That came to a screeching halt on Monday, though, with Bengals head coach Zac Taylor revealing that Mims suffered a strained pec and will miss a few weeks of action.

Taylor said that Mims had discomfort after the preseason opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the team’s medical staff later found the issue.

On the same Monday, veteran right tackle Trent Brown returned to practice after dealing with injuries of his own. He will now presumably have the inside track on the starting job, provided he picks things up quickly after arriving via free agency this offseason.

While Mims won’t require surgery and Taylor stressed the issue as a “minor” thing, he also wasn’t willing to commit to any sort of timeline.

Injuries that contributed to a lack of real-game reps in college were one of the things that knocked Mims down the board in the first round. Moving forward, the Bengals have to hope that this is an anomaly because his flashes so far were that of a top-10 pick.