BJ Hill passed his physical and returned to practice Saturday, Aug. 15 giving the Cincinnati Bengals an important piece to their already impressive defensive line rotation.
The ninth-year veteran defensive tackle has been on the Physically Unable to Perform list since July 25 with an undisclosed lower body injury.
Hill suffered an ankle injury late last season that had him listed as “questionable” the final three weeks. He played through it, but said he underwent surgery during the offseason. He did not participate in the team’s offseason workouts, despite being present at the team facility.
Now, Hill is anxious to get back to work.
“I'm coming along very well,” Hill said. “Been a long process since last year. Got injured, thugging it out for the season last year, got surgery, but feeling better.”
“Feels good to be back with the boys running around having fun,” Hill added. “Glad to be back.”
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said the plan was to get Hill back into individual drills Saturday and see how he responds before moving forward.
The team is building toward Thursday’s joint practice with the Chicago Bears ahead of their preseason game Saturday at Paycor Stadium.
“Just kind of taking it this next four-day segment there (with three practices around an off day Monday), but he's in the right spot now to get out there and start working,” Taylor said. “His rehab has gone well, and so I'm excited to get him back on the field and see what he can do.”
Hill said the hardest part of his rehab was watching his teammates out there when he could not be with them. He was doing everything possible to get back but had to stay patient to make sure he fully recovered and could return at a high level.
The Bengals have counted on him the past five years, including in a starting role since 2022 when he replaced Larry Ogunjobi. However, his production seemed to take a dip while playing about 62 percent of the snaps on defense each of the past two years.
No other interior lineman came close to that kind of playing time.
The Bengals made significant efforts to improve the defensive line and build depth this offseason, signing Jonathan Allen in free agency and acquiring nose tackle Dexter Lawrence in a trade from the New York Giants. Cincinnati hopes to keep players fresh with a steady rotation, and now having guys like T.J. Slaton and Hill as the second wave of players coming in — and Kris Jenkins and McKinnley Jackson or others on the third string — makes that much more effective.
Hill has played through several injuries over the years, and he perhaps more than most should benefit from a lighter workload.
“Obviously, a starter-capable player who's got a lot of experience, who's been in a lot of different situations, that I think is going to help those around him too,” Taylor said. “So, I think when you just add them to the mix of guys that we have right now, we've always been counting on BJ to come back and help us, and we'll certainly over the next week make it make it happen the right way for him as he hasn't been on the field in a while. But leadership, experience, I just think that there's a lot he can bring to the table there.”
Once Hill is full-go, Kris Jenkins will be most impacted in terms of reps. He now falls back to third on the depth chart behind Allen and Hill, but because Allen’s workload has been managed along with other veterans this training camp, Jenkins has seen a lot of first-team reps.
The 2024 second-round draft pick will need to make the most of his opportunities when given those reps against stronger competition. He did that Thursday with a strong showing in the preseason opener, but the Lions were playing a lot of their second- and third-string guys.
Taylor said he’s been competing hard, though.
“Obviously for a guy like that, we added guys to the mix, and Kris has really just put his head down and worked,” Taylor said. “And I thought he showed well in the game the other day and finding the role for himself and finding a way to impact the defense. And a lot of times with those two tackles, they're not always the guy making the play, but maybe they created the play for somebody next to him or somebody behind him. And so, I think Kris is a really unselfish player that way and is just trying to play his role to the best of his abilities and make an impact on our team.”
The Bengals also made a couple of roster moves Saturday with rookie cornerback Ceyair Wright, who also has a passion for acting, informing the team he would like to pursue other opportunities. Wright played the role of LeBron James’ son in Space Jam 2 in 2021, and Taylor said his two passions collided and he made the tough decision to go down a different path from football.
Cincinnati replaced him with cornerback Matthew McDoom, a rookie out of the University of Cincinnati who originally signed with Baltimore as a college free agent in May. He was waived by the Ravens on Aug. 8.