As the NFL season is now fully underway, some players are missing out on the action.
One of those players is running back Zack Moss. The 27-year-old started training camp with the Cincinnati Bengals on the non-football injury list after suffering a season-ending neck injury last season. He was released in July.
Is Zack Moss Still Seeking NFL Future After Broken Neck?
In 2024, Moss signed a two-year deal with the Bengals worth $8 million. After last season, Moss and Cincinnati agreed to a restructured deal worth $1.7 million in 2025.
According to ESPN, Moss’ release reportedly cost Cincinnati $1.88 million in dead money against the salary cap and netted the team $1.2 million in cap savings.
Moss has racked up 3,028 scrimmage yards and 21 touchdowns in 61 games over his career with the Bills, Indianapolis Colts and Bengals.
He learned of his neck injury on Nov. 1, 2024, just two days before the Bengals were set to play the Las Vegas Raiders. Moss’s C6 vertebra was broken in three places, and he was required to spend two months in a neck brace with minimal movement.
His injury was traced back to Week 1 against the New England Patriots, but no additional details have been publicly disclosed.
Moss was originally drafted in 2020 with the No. 86 overall pick by the Buffalo Bills. He played his college football at Utah, where he earned All-America honors and was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2019.
More recently, in 2024, he had 187 receiving yards and 242 rushing yards, along with three total touchdowns.
While dealing with the injury, Moss focused on spending time with his family.
The Athletic reported in July that Moss has been working on conditioning and still has a strong desire to return to the league once he can prove he is able.
“Like I told coach (Zac) Taylor, if I wanted to be done, I could have stayed at home and not left my wife and two kids by herself,” Moss told Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. “I could have made that call and called it a day. My intention is to be here, to do what I have to do rehab-wise and then go from there. Wherever it is at, make a decision from there. That’s all I can do.”
He said he doesn’t carry any expectations during his recovery.
“I don’t have any expectations, honestly,” Moss said. “That’s not how I live my life. I just don’t put expectations on anything because I don’t want to be let down. Just going to allow my body to tell me when it is ready, and then we will go from that, and leave it up to people who have to make decisions on that. I can’t make those decisions. I just do what I got to do and things go from there.”
Moss’s profile is currently listed as active on NFL.com.
