Bengals’ Zack Moss to IR with neck injury, likely out for season

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals running back Zack Moss was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday and will likely be out for the rest of the season, coach Zac Taylor said.

Moss missed the team’s most recent game, a 41-24 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, with a neck injury that was reported late last week. Upon further evaluation, the issue was deemed serious enough to hold him out for the rest of the season.

“Still gathering more information but it doesn’t look like he’ll back,” Taylor said ahead of practice on Tuesday night.

Taylor said early indications show that Moss’s injury will not be career-ending, but more testing is being done. It’s also unclear when exactly the issue occurred.

“I just know late in the week he didn’t feel right,” Taylor said. “So that’s where it ended up.”

In the offseason, the former Colts running back signed a two-year deal worth $8 million. When Cincinnati landed Moss, it finalized the decision to move on from Joe Mixon, who had been with the team from 2017 to 2023 and reached the Pro Bowl in 2021. Mixon was eventually traded to the Houston Texans.

At the outset of the season, Moss and second-year running back Chase Brown split backfield duties. But in recent weeks, Brown has been the more productive of the two backs. With Moss injured against the Raiders, Brown set career highs in carries (27) and rushing yards (120).

With Moss injured, the Bengals made a trade with the Chicago Bears on Tuesday morning for running back Khalil Herbert. The move that was finalized just hours before the 4 p.m. deadline sent a 2025 seventh-round draft pick to the Bears for Herbert, who was buried on Chicago’s depth chart and had just eight carries in six games this season.

Herbert arrived in Cincinnati around 2 p.m. Tuesday and was wearing his new number, 34, at the team’s night practice ahead of Thursday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens. Taylor didn’t rule out the possibility that Herbert could be available to play in a crucial AFC North road game.

“We’ll see where it goes,” Taylor said. “I wouldn’t take it off the table.”

One of the other storylines surrounding the Bengals was the future of wide receiver Tee Higgins, who is playing on the franchise tag and set to be a free agent last year. Taylor strongly dismissed the notion that Higgins could have been moved ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

“I think those are conversations you all had,” Taylor said. “Not us.”

Higgins did not practice on Tuesday night as he continues to recover from a quadricep injury. He has missed the last two games and has been out for four total this season.