by UPDATE 2
After the Bengals’ scorigami win over the Patriots, right tackle La’el Collins revealed his injury was a dislocated kneecap, which was eventually returned to position.
Collins believes if he misses the time, it will just be Monday night’s Week 17 matchup against the Buffalo Bills.
Ironically, Jonah Williams suffered the same injury in Week 5 against the Baltimore Ravens and actually returned to play in the same game.
just spoke to #Bengal RT La’el Collins who told me he dislocated his kneecap but it snapped back into place. Says he’s moving well and believes if he misses next week’s game against the Bills (which he thinks is likely) it would be that game. It’s not the end of the season
— Kelsey Conway (@KelseyLConway) December 24, 2022
More tests are being conducted to see if there is any further damage, but it appears Collins’ season is not over yet.
Meanwhile, expect Hakeem Adeniji to be the Bengals’ right starting tackle until Collins is healthy enough to play again.
TO UPDATE
According to Kelsey Conway, reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, for now it looks like La’el Collins has avoided a cruciate ligament rupture.
Important injury news for the Bengals: La’el Collins’ cruciate ligament is still intact. Collins passed the initial ACL test administered by medical staff, a source tells me
He will have an MRI tomorrow to see what the injury diagnosis is, but initial tests show the ACL is fine. #Bengal
— Kelsey Conway (@KelseyLConway) December 24, 2022
The Cincinnati Bengals will be without La’el Collins for the remainder of their game against the New England Patriots. The freshman Bengal had his leg rolled up by a defender and coaches were immediately called onto the field by players from both sides.
While he was initially able to leave the field with the help of two coaches, he was later carted from the medical tent into the changing room.
Now the Bengals have ruled him out of the game due to a left leg injury.
Collins is replaced in the right tackle by Hakeem Adeniji, who has played a handful of snaps in every game as the sixth offensive lineman. He also sparingly replaced Collins during the season.
This starting offensive line unit had the most snaps of any unit in the NFL, but we’ll have to see if this disruption has a serious impact on the continuity they’ve had.
We’ll update this story as more details become available.
