If the Cincinnati Bengals are worried about A.J. Green through four games of the 2020 season, it’s hard to tell via comments from head coach Zac Taylor.
Green, the franchise player who hadn’t previously played since the 2018 season, is the second-most targeted player by Joe Burrow at 33 — he’s only third on the team in receiving with 14 catches for 119 yards.
Not exactly the type of production the Bengals were hoping for from the former No. 1 wideout. But Taylor isn’t concerned, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“We’re not going to worry about guys getting their touches and targets. There are enough weapons to where we can win football games, and someone might have one catch for three yards. And there might be one where you have 10 catches for 150 yards. Going back to the unselfish players and high-character guys we have on this team … they understand that they just want to win. A.J. was as happy as anyone in that locker room. His time will come.”
There’s also this to consider, via ESPN’s Ben Baby:
Zac Taylor, on if A.J. Green still looks like the guy he's been throughout the career: "Oh yeah. He comes off the ball. You can see the respect that he gets from the DBs."
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) October 5, 2020
More often than not, it seems Green is having a mightily hard time getting separation from defenders. But his timing with Burrow is also clearly off.
Even so, it might not be time to write Green off just yet. He didn’t play last year, is in a new offense and didn’t get many reps with Burrow this summer because of a slight training camp injury.
But with Tyler Boyd booming as usual and Tee Higgins on a massive upswing, the clock is ticking on Green to come around.
