Trae Waynes injured his pectoral muscle this week, as Bengals continue to evaluate the injury

Trae Waynes injured his pectoral muscle this week, Cincinnati Bengals continue to evaluate the injury

CINCINNATI — Bengals cornerback Trae Waynes suffered a pectoral injury in practice this week.. 

Head coach Zac Taylor didn't elaborate much on the injury during his weekly news conference, but he did say that Waynes was still being evaluated. 

"It just happened this week. It is unfortunate," Taylor said. "Those guys have been working hard since they’ve been in the building. It’s just an unfortunate situation. These things happen during training camp. I’m excited to get him healthy and back on the field for us."

Waynes, 27, signed a three-year, $42 million contract with the Bengals in March. 

Tom Pelissero broke the news on Tuesday morning. Waynes could miss up to two months according to the report, but the Bengals head coach didn't offer up many details.

"I don’t want to get into too many details right now," Taylor said. "He was working hard for us. Again, these things happen. It’s nobody’s fault. We just move on, get him healthy and back on the field."

Waynes has played in at least 14 games in all five of his NFL seasons. He's started 44 of a possible 48 regular season games over the past three years.

If he does miss extended time with the injury, expect the Bengals to place him on the injured reserve list. All 32 NFL teams are able to activate an unlimited number of players off of IR this year and they only need to be on the list for three weeks. 

The coaching staff feels good about the cornerback depth on the team, but losing Waynes for two months would be a big blow to the secondary.

"We’ve added some players there at the corner position that will be able to compete" Taylor said. "There’s several guys in the mix there [to replace Waynes in the starting lineup]. And those guys are all excited for the opportunity. Obviously Darius (Phillips) did some great things for us at the end of the season last year. And you have guys like LeShaun Sims. And there’s really a whole bunch of guys. I could name them all right now because (of) that room. Again, we have plenty of time to sort these things out. There’s going to be plenty of reps to go around. Guys are going to get a chance to take hold of that spot, one way or another."

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