Bengals Enter Week 1 With Miraculously Clean Injury Report, Shemar Stewart Doubtful
Adam Schefter: 'Bengals DE Shemar Stewart is listed as doubtful for Sunday’s opener against Tampa Bay. All other Bengals are off the injury report.'
The are entering Week 1 with an injury report so clean it looks like a typo.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Friday that defensive end Shemar Stewart is doubtful for Sunday's season opener against the . The actual headline here is the second sentence of the update, which notes that every other player on the roster is officially off the injury report.
In the modern NFL, entering the first week of the season with only one guy on the shelf is basically a medical miracle. Usually, by the time September rolls around, half the depth chart is nursing a mysterious hamstring tweak or a training camp bruise that requires a weekly sacrifice to the medical staff.
Stewart being doubtful does sting for the defensive line rotation. Missing a rotational edge rusher forces the Bengals to shuffle their front early to keep the pressure on the Buccaneers offense.
If can survive the opener without Stewart and keep the rest of the squad in bubble wrap, they are setting themselves up for a massive early-season advantage. We will see if the defensive front can hold the line against on Sunday afternoon.