Cincinnati Bengals RB Chase Brown suffered a high-ankle sprain in the team’s Week 17 win over the Denver Broncos. After he participated in the team’s walkthrough on Friday, per NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, he will work out pre-game and test his ankle in an attempt to play against the Steelers in Week 18 on Saturday night.
Rapoport also added that WR Tee Higgins is expected to play, which isn’t a surprise. Higgins had three touchdowns in Cincinnati’s win over Denver last week.
Chase Brown wasn’t able to log a practice for Cincinnati this week outside of his reported involvement in Friday’s walkthrough. However, the team still officially listed him as questionable in their final injury report of the week. It’s a must-win game for the Bengals as they try to keep their playoff hopes alive, and having Brown healthy is important for their offense.
This season, he has 229 carries for 990 yards and seven touchdowns while adding 54 receptions for 360 yards out of the backfield. He’s run for 50+ yards in Cincinnati’s last six games while also having at least three receptions in every one of those games. He’s had at least two receptions in every game except Week 2 against the Kansas City Chiefs for the season.
He’s been an important player for Cincinnati, especially with RB Zack Moss out for the season. If Chase Brown can’t go, the Bengals will have to turn to trade deadline acquisition Khalil Herbert, with RB Trayveon Willams behind him.
Cincinnati also signed RB Kendall Milton off the practice squad to the active roster earlier this week, hinting that the team may have some doubts about Brown’s chances to play. But it’ll all hinge on how he looks pre-game and how comfortable Cincinnati is rolling him out there in a do-or-die game without risking further injury or having the injury impact his performance.
Given that it could be Cincinnati’s last game of the season, if Chase Brown can perform at the same level and not risk further injury, he’d likely deal with the pain management component to try and give Cincinnati a better chance to win.
