Bengals likely to be without four starters Sunday

The Cincinnati Bengals will be without three, are likely four, starters Sunday at Tennessee.

Running back Jeremy Hill (ankle), linebacker Kevin Minter (elbow) and defensive tackle are out, and safety Shawn Williams (hamstring) is listed as doubtful.

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There’s a 50-50 chance another key piece could be inactive, with kicker Randy Bullock listed as questionable. Bullock was a limited participant Friday, which means the team will probably wait to see how his back responds Saturday. If he feels good, they likely would cut Marshall Koehn, who kicked last week at Jacksonville after being signed the day before, and bring rookie safety Brandon Wilson up from the practice squad.

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Williams’ likely absence couple with Derron Smith leaving the practice squad to sign with Cleveland on Thursday means the Bengals only only have three healthy safeties in George Iloka, Clayton Fejedelem and Josh Shaw.

Also of note is that the fact that wide receiver Tyler Boyd is not listed on the injury report. He hasn’t played since injuring his knee Oct. 8 against Buffalo.

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His absence from the injury report means all seven wide receivers are healthy. The Bengals typically only dress five on game day. There is a good chance Boyd will be a healthy scratch, leaving the question of whether they will make rookie first-round pick John Ross active for just the third time this year.

The inactive list is due at 11:30 a.m. Sunday ahead of the 1 p.m. game.

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