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Ben Baby, ESPN Staff Writer
CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Bengals will be without one of their top playmakers for another week.
Wide receiver Tee Higgins will not play vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, the third straight game he has missed with a hamstring injury, coach Zac Taylor said after Friday’s practice. The fourth-year player out of Clemson did not practice all week as he continues to recover from the injury.
The Bengals’ coach said that Higgins is “on a good track” and is “encouraged” by his recovery progress. But Taylor also pointed out that Higgins is still only 16 days removed from when he initially suffered the hamstring injury at practice.
“[We] didn’t feel good about him going this week, so let’s not push him at practice,” Taylor said Friday. “He’s pushing himself in the rehab process, but there was no reason to integrate him into practice and risk a setback with him doing something away from the trainers.”
Higgins was beginning to rebound from a slow start to the year before he suffered the injury. In the team’s Week 9 win against Buffalo, he had a season-high eight catches on nine targets for 110 yards.
In other injury news, Cincinnati will be without cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt, who did not practice all week after he suffered a quadriceps injury in the Nov. 16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. Defensive end Sam Hubbard, who has missed the past two games with an ankle injury, will be available to play against the Steelers (6-4), Taylor said.
The Bengals (5-5) are looking to break a two-game skid and keep their playoff hopes flickering despite the loss of quarterback Joe Burrow for the season. On Friday, Taylor said that Burrow remains on track to have surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist. Burrow is expected to go on injured reserve Friday or Saturday, Taylor said.
Jake Browning, who has been in the NFL since he went undrafted in 2019, will make his first career start.