It’s messy world out there for cornerbacks, as Chicago Bears fans can attest.
But things haven’t gotten to a point where they are this dire:
Another fun note from Friday's practice, Zac Taylor spent some time as a CB on Tee Higgins in individual drills. Said he was 'not good', nearly popped his calves on every rep. #Bengals pic.twitter.com/ihCZatX8Oi
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) September 17, 2021
As a result of being short-handed in the secondary, Bengals Head Coach Zac Taylor was taking reps as a cornerback against Tee Higgins on Friday. Cincy is dealing with a wave of injuries in the defensive backfield, especially with defensive backs Trae Waynes and Ricardo Allen out, as well as cornerback Darius Phillips being questionable.
Taylor is a quarterback by trade after playing collegiately at Nebraska. But at age 38, he should have some athletic juices left in the tank. Then again, it takes a different gear to hang with the likes of Tee Higgins, the Bengals’ second-round pick in 2020 who has first-team All-ACC honors and high school All-American recognition on his résumé.
Should the Bears get into a situation like this, don’t expect Nagy to lace ’em up and go against someone like Darnell Mooney. Instead, Nagy could turn to assistants such as Mike Adams (16-year NFL playing career and two-time Pro Bowl safety) and Deshea Townsend (a 13-year pro at cornerback) to take some reps. Heck, do we know if either could be available on Sunday? There’s a non-zero chance both could help either team’s secondary if they were to suit up on game day.