With the way Jake Browning finished the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2, the Cincinnati Bengals may have had a ray of hope that the season could at least remain salvageable by the time Joe Burrow came back from a Grade-3 toe turf injury. However, Browning’s performance in Week 3 has made that assumption a very risky one for the organization.
Getting blasted by the Minnesota Vikings, Cincinnati now walks into Week 4 against another team with a top-notch defense in the Denver Broncos. The focus will firmly be on their backup quarterback and whether he can hold down the fort. But he’s going to have his work cut out for him, with a key contributor on the offense, Noah Fant, remaining a question mark for the game.
Will Noah Fant Play Against the Denver Broncos?
A first-round pick for his opponents this week in 2019, Fant has been a solid contributor in each of his two destinations so far in the NFL. A solid three-year run with the Broncos saw him tally over 1,900 yards with the franchise.
Traded away as part of the massive haul the Seattle Seahawks got for Russell Wilson, Fant continued his strong play in a new system as well. In three years with Seattle, he added another 1,400 receiving yards to his tally.
A free agent this offseason, he had interest from multiple teams before he officially chose to sign with an explosive offense in Cincy. Through three games, he seemed to be right on pace to make another positive impact.
Hauling in 12 catches on 14 targets, Fant had 80 yards and a touchdown to his credit. Last week against the Vikings, though, came at a massive cost for the Iowa product. Taking a hard hit to the head, Fant was immediately placed in the concussion protocol.
As a result, his status for the game against Denver remains up in the air. After not participating at all in either Thursday’s or Friday’s practices, it remains unlikely that he’ll be cleared to play on Monday.
Without Fant, the focus will be on Drew Sample and Mike Gesicki. The latter could potentially find his form from last season again after a slow start to the 2025 campaign, when he tallied just 38 yards through three games.
Fant’s absence isn’t going to make things easy on a Bengals offense that has been disappointing to say the least. Even with Burrow available for half of the season so far, the unit ranks as the second-worst among all teams in PFSN’s Offense Impact.
Without Fant, that number could take a further dip this week against an elite defense.
