Cincinnati Bengals Lose Tanner Hudson to Injury: Instant Reaction & Joe Burrow Impact

This tight end room complementing each other so well. They were five deep. You lose Tanner Hudson, it's going to change things, especially when it comes to the Joe Burrow trust factor. Because there's going to be a lot of people that say, well, Jack Andrews, slide him in. He'll be fine. Fine is relative. Does Joe trust Jack to be where Jack needs to be? And we exist for instant reactions like this. We have some breaking Bengals news, courtesy of Charlie Clifford of WLWT Channel 5. Unfortunately, Tanner Hudson out for the season, tore his pectoral muscle on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins. It's something that Zach Taylor mentioned yesterday that they were still evaluating Tanner. He hurt it on a special teams play late in the game, obviously caught the touchdown from Joe Burrow earlier in the game that helped give the Bengals the lead for good. But Tanner Hudson now out. for the season just the fact that he hurt it on a special teams play after catching a touchdown earlier in the game tells you exactly how much he means to this team as versatile as any player on this roster has to do a lot in different phases of the game and obviously a great receiver that Joe Burrow has a great relationship with down in the red zone making plays like he did on Sunday against Miami this is a huge loss for the Bengals their ability to send him up and down from the practice squad and have his assistance in various different tight ends room tight end rooms over the last few years has been a huge help to this offense and is certainly someone that they're going to miss and immediately my head goes to all right Jack Andrews let's see if you're ready yeah that's certainly part of it is Jack Andrews but yeah you look at Tanner Hudson over the years he's just been such a reliable option for Joe Burrow has the trust of everybody in the building seven catches for 33 yards on the season it's not like his numbers are going to wow you has the one touchdown last year had two touchdowns but appeared in 15 games the year before that 11 games in a touchdown the year before that a touchdown and that's it is he's appeared over the past three years coming into this season in 12 games 11 games 15 games just a key part of this offense and that's it that photo right there is of Joe Burrow celebrating with Tanner Hudson after his awesome diving it was a diving catch it was a really tough catch and so to lose him for the entire year it stinks now is it something that is going to be so impossible to overcome well no it's part of life in the NFL injuries happen teams have to deal with that and you mentioned it with Jack injuries but it's not just Jack injuries i mean Eric All had an up and down Sunday no doubt and they're banking on Eric All Drew Sample everyone feels like a lot of people have tried to boot out of town for years and years and years well guess what there's more pressure on Drew Sample the other element here is it's just more pressure on Mike Gesicki as well Tanner Hudson was sort of the backup to Mike Gesicki, and that's how you use both of those guys. Now is that Jack Andrews? Do you lean more on Eric All in the passing game? It's not going to be Drew Sample from a pass-catching standpoint. So we'll see. Is it Colby Young? Is it strictly you're not using a tight end and you're not leaning on the tight end position in that way? I'm not sure. But what I do know is this depth, this tight end room, complementing each other so well. They were five deep. You lose Tanner Hudson, it's going to change things, especially when it comes to the Joe Burrow trust factor. Because there's going to be a lot of people that say, well, Jack Endries, slide him in. He'll be fine. Fine is relative. Does Joe trust Jack to be where Jack needs to be? There was no questions about Tanner Hudson and his ability to be where Joe Burrow wanted him to be. We'll see if Jack can pick up the slack or if someone else does. Yeah, I absolutely never want to be in this position, losing a player who's such a key to various pieces of the offense. But if there is a position group to have an injury like this pop up, then tight end is one of the deeper positions on this team. We were going back and forth on how many to carry when we were doing roster cuts back before the season started. This is one of the deepest groups on the team. I loved Jack Endries coming out of Texas when the Bengals took him in this draft class. I think he's someone that can really make a difference for this offense at some point in his career. You didn't think that would be coming out of the bye in his rookie season. And that's a big change with the Tanner Hudson injury is can you match the production? maybe he's been a hundred yard touchdown guy in his career but when you need that play in a given moment is Jack Endries going to be there and I go to where we were at at the end of the Jags game Mike Gesicki thrown into a new position a player Joe Burrow absolutely has trust in especially in those big time moments runs the wrong route running a different position running T Higgins position there you're throwing Jack Endries into a game position he's never played asking him to do things he's never done how much of that stuff can pop up and happen I think it's a huge concern for a team that's sitting here at a 3-2 going into Baltimore after the bye. It's great that you have the bye this week, hopefully as much of a chance as you can to get him up to speed and on the same page with all those moments. But this is a huge thing to watch, and I don't think it goes away in a couple weeks. I think this is something you watch all season long, that it could ripple in Week 15 and cost the Bengals. Yeah, you certainly hope not. You certainly hope not. And you're right, though. Like, I think about it. Heck, Pittsburgh. We had this conversation in Pittsburgh going into that game, and I said, road game, you're banking on Dante Myers, Keyshawn Williams in a tough spot, and what happened? That's it. When you bank on young players on the road, and so maybe it's Jack Endries, maybe it isn't. By the way, Eric Hall is basically in year two, and look at him the other day. You're going to have gaps. You're going to have mistakes. And Tanner was just so good at wearing a bunch of different hats. And so losing him, and if you're just joining us, Tanner Hudson out for the season. He suffered a torn pectoral muscle in Sunday's win over the Miami Dolphins late in the game, playing special teams. And this isn't the only special teams injury they've had to a key piece of their offense. Andre Yosefash hurt his thumb on special teams. He's still making his way back, still a few weeks away from returning to the field. But Tanner out for the year. Zach Taylor mentioned this yesterday, that it was an injury. They weren't sure it was this yet. They had not gotten confirmation. Well, confirmation has been had. And it's just, it's rough for a bunch of reasons. Now, on the optimistic side, from a team standpoint, it stinks for Tanner, stinks for, you know, his family, and obviously for Joe Burrow in this offense, and really, Darren Simmons. I mean, there's a lot of people it stinks for. On the other side, what an opportunity for Jack Endries, being a seventh-round pick, where you earned your way onto this team. You haven't been active regularly. Now, at least on the surface, you are going to be active, and maybe you do get a chance to show what you can do. And the thing I like about Jack Endries, and I'll get this clip for probably tomorrow's show, but during the conference call with the media after he was drafted, how much he's like, I'm going to make everyone regret them passing on me like they did. Because I asked him how he felt falling basically from around four or five projection, probably around five is where I think he was solidly projected by everyone, all the way to around seven. And he was not happy about it. And he came with that energy, and we'll see if he's ready to go. But he's going to get the opportunity now to show that he not only belongs in the NFL, but can contribute to a winning team. Yeah, and the flip side of this is a draft class we talked about a lot afterwards, a really exciting group that the Bengals brought in. This is really going to be the second rookie we've seen a significant amount from. Obviously Cassius Howell, and I've talked about it a lot. Takario Davis has been in and out of the lineup. DJ Ivy has taken that role with the injuries to the corner room right now. Colby Young obviously missed some time with an injury as well, has made some plays when he's been in there, but still not a ton from him. And then Brian Parker on IR, and Landon Robinson hasn't been active. Haven't seen a lot of these rookies at all this year. A good opportunity for injuries, and hopefully he can seize it much like Cassius Howell has. Yeah, no doubt about it. That's it. Can he seize the opportunity? There's going to be more fallout when it comes to this Bengals injury with Tanner Hudson, if you're just joining us again, out for the season with a torn pectoral.