A.J. Green acknowledges he probably won’t play final two games of 2019 season

In the least surprising news you’ll hear today, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green told the Bengals.com writer Geoff Hobson that he is probably not going to play the final two games of the 2019 season due to his ankle injury. His doctor told him he could have a normal offseason of training and will be fine for the 2020 season.

Green tore ligaments in his ankle at the beginning of training camp, and he said the prognosis was that it could take six weeks or six months for the injury to heal after surgery. A clean break would have been a simple process, whereas this grew complicated due to it involving ligaments.

The injury has afforded Tyler Boyd, John Ross, Auden Tate, and Alex Erickson to all get some additional opportunities. It is all the more necessary because Green is a free agent after this season. The Bengals could elect to use their franchise tag on him, but there is no word yet on the team’s plans. There has not been much talk of a deal, so if they don’t franchise him, it would potentially mean the end of the 31-year old receivers time with the only franchise he has known.

Wherever Green is playing next year, his draft stock will be tricky to judge. If he is fully healthy, he likely won’t be among the top receivers as he has been in recent years. But, how far he slides down the list is difficult to tell for the time being.