Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor watches a replay on the video board in the first quarter of the NFL Preseason Week 2 game between the Washington Commanders and the Cincinnati Bengals at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Zac Taylor Updates Bengals Injuries, Plan For Starters in Final 2025 Preseason Game

Originally posted on Cincinnati Bengals on SI
By Russell Heltman | Last updated Aug 20, 2025 2:00 PM ET

Zac Taylor met with the media on Wednesday afternoon as his Bengals team deals with a quick turnaround in Preseason Week 3, facing Indianapolis on Saturday. The head coach notably announced guard Cordell Volson is having surgery on his shoulder and is likely to miss the 2025 season.

Taylor gave an update on a banged-up guard room and confirmed Volson was injured in practice as he heads for surgery. The four th-year player was battling for a spot on the Bengals line this summer after starting over 50 games since being drafted in 2022.

"Cordell is going to have shoulder surgery, so I expect him to be on IR but we'll get more information on that," Taylor said. "But right now, that's a tough one for him. He's been a guy that's really worked hard for us, and I wouldn't say it's set in stone until you have the surgery, but that's the direction he seems to be headed."

Taylor also noted good progress for other injuryed Bengals, including tight end Mike Gesicki, defensive end Myles Murphy, and guard Lucas Patrick.

"I think we're getting through a lot of guys, you know. So right now, some guys are still day to day. Lucas Patrick's [injury] wasn't as severe as we initially thought during the ga me, so we'll manage some guys through this week," Taylor said. "Lucas would be a guy that fits that category. Gesicki would be a guy that continues to be day to day. Right now. He's in good shape. Drew Sample coming out of this game will be day to day this week.

"These are guys that could play this weekend if we needed them to. Trying to think who else fits that category. Myles Murphy, similar. So I think there's a lot of guys right there, nobody that I really expect to extend into next week. So I think we're in really good shape there."

Joe Burrow and other starters will not see much playing time this weekend. They'll go 18 days between game action after starters got the most preseason snaps of the Taylor era in recent weeks.

"I'm not anticipating any starters playing," Taylor confirmed to the media.

Joe Burrow and the rest of Cincinnati's stars get a few weeks to fine tune things before Week 1 after extensive play in the preseason. Burrow logged 44 snaps in the opening two games, compared to 16 preseason snaps combined in his other five seasons.