A.J. Green injury update: Ankle progressing well

After being out a bit longer than expected, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green may be close to returning from an ankle injury.

A.J. Green has missed the first three games for the Cincinnati Bengals this season, and he’ll make it four on Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. But he was seen on the rehab field getting some work in this past week, and according to Tyler Dragon of the Cincinnati Enquirer  Green is inching closer to a return.

Upon injuring his ankle in July, and undergoing surgery, Green was expected to miss 6-8 weeks. Earlier this month he said he always expected to be out longer than that reported timetable, and he has now inched past it with a return coming no sooner than Week 5.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor has been careful not to publicly put a timetable on Green’s return, as is typical. So his comments from Saturday qualify as great optimism.

"I take it week-to-week with him. He’s making the progress that we anticipated him making. There hasn’t been any setbacks,” Taylor said. “He’s making steady progress."

Then there’s this funny note from Dragon, from an exchange with Green himself.

Green, a seven-time Pro Bowler in his first eight seasons, has spent his entire career with the Bengals. But he’s in the final year of his contract, and is a potential trade candidate if the season stays on the track it’s on for an 0-3 team. Taylor is obviously a new head coach, and while quarterback in Andy Dalton has one year left on his contract after this one, it won’t be hard for the Bengals to move on from him after this season. So a rebuild seems to be on in Cincinnati, without the kind of open tanking that’s going on in Miami.

It’ll be a short week for the team, but Green seems to have a chance to return in Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals. No matter where things go from here, his looming return is good news for the Bengals (and Green’s fantasy owners).