The Cincinnati Bengals have given running back Zack Moss another demotion. This offseason, the Bengals restructured his salary from $3.5 million this year to $1.8 million. And now? The Bengals have released him.
This would seem to be a corresponding roster move since defensive end Trey Hendrickson returned to training camp following his holdout.
In his first year with Cincinnati, Moss started six games and ran 74 times for 242 yards and two touchdowns. He injured his neck in a Week 8 home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and missed the rest of the season.
“I started losing feeling in my arm,” Moss said about the injury. “Coming out of that game, I pretty much played that game with seven fingers.”
Moss had a tough road back from a neck injury as he broke his C6 vertebra in three places, which sounds as bad as it was. Moss seemed to be taking a wait-and-see approach to this season with all of the uncertainty.
“I don’t have any expectations, honestly,” Moss said recently. “That’s not how I live my life. I just don’t put expectations on anything because I don’t want to be let down. Just going to allow my body to tell me when it is ready, and then we will go from that, and leave it up to people who have to make decisions on that. I can’t make those decisions. I just do what I got to do and things go from there.”
Zack Moss didn’t want to give up on football
Moss is a tough nut, but everyone has their limits. It’s easy for fans and media to watch sports injuries from the outside and think, ‘so and so got hurt, they haven’t played in X amount of time and now they are back.’ We wouldn’t be wrong, because that’s what we see. But rehabbing serious injuries is often more about the mental side than the physical aspects.
“That’s something people don’t know about Zack is how tough he is,” Bengals’ running backs coach Justin Hill said. “When he was in Indy, he played I don’t know how many games with a broken arm. That’s just who he is. He’s one of the toughest people I’ve ever been around.”
Moss sounds like he’s going with the wind here. He’ll just work hard, get healthy and let the chips fall where they may. Right now, those chips are going to have to land in another NFL city if he wants to keep going.
“Like I told coach Taylor, if I wanted to be done, I could have stayed at home and not left my wife and two kids by herself,” Moss said. “I could have made that call and called it a day. My intention is to be here, to do what I have to do rehab-wise and then go from there. Wherever it is at, make a decision from there. That’s all I can do.”
The Bengals are thin at running back
Last year, Chase Brown took over full-time duties from Moss after he went down in Week 8. He was very productive, running for 990 yards and seven touchdowns. With regards to the Bengals’ running back stable after Brown? Crickets.
On the current roster, the Bengals have 2025 sixth-round pick Tahj Brooks, Samaje Perine, Gary Brightwell, Kendall Milton and Quali Conley. Props to Heavy.com for even having player pages for some of those guys.
Moss’ recent comments on his return take on a bit of a new meaning now that he has been released.
“I don’t have any expectations, honestly,” Moss said. “That’s not how I live my life. I just don’t put expectations on anything because I don’t want to be let down. Just going to allow my body to tell me when it is ready, and then we will go from that, and leave it up to people who have to make decisions on that. I can’t make those decisions. I just do what I got to do and things go from there.”
As of right now, this is clearly Brown’s show. Move him up your fantasy draft boards unless you are concerned about the team’s putrid offensive line.
Cincinnati Bengals Make Room for Hendrickson, Release RB Moss