Bengals Head Coach Says Team Isn't Trading Receiver A.J. Green
BOSTON (CBS) -- If the Patriots want to add a wide receiver before the NFL trade deadline, it sounds like they'll have to look somewhere other than Cincinnati. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor told reporters on Thursday that the team will not be trading receiver A.J. Green.
"I've heard the speculation. We are not trading that guy," Taylor said definitively, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic. "He's a big part of this organization. We have a lot of belief in him that when he gets back, he's going to really help us."
Green is still working his way back from an ankle injury he suffered in July that has kept him on the sideline to start the 2019 season. He practiced for the first time on Thursday but will not play this weekend. He is targeting a Week 7 return to game action.
The 31-year-old is in the final year of his contract, and with the Bengals winless this season, Green's name was surfacing in trade rumors. Green has said he's ready for anything ahead of the Oct. 29 trade deadline, but it sounds like the Bengals want to hang on to their seven-time Pro Bowl receiver.
Green is second in Cincinnati franchise history in receptions and receiving yards, and third in touchdowns. In nine games last season, Green caught 46 passes for 694 yards and six touchdowns.