With the Bengals missing three of their top four cornerbacks Sunday's game at Paycor Stadium against the Panthers, rookie cornerback Allan George is expected to make his NFL debut after his practice squad elevation. But it's not his first swig of the NFL.
George, the undrafted free agent out of Vanderbilt, took 170 snaps out of about a possible 180 in the preseason and showed some promise with 12 tackles and three passes defensed in the three starts. At 5-11, 191 pounds, George built a rep at Vandy as a physical corner and he's carried that into his NFL bid.
He went to the practice squad as a cut-down day casualty, but the Bengals clearly feel like he has an emerging role. He's been a just-in-case guy on all five Bengals regular-season road trips.
"Anything can happen," said George last week before he got the call. "I prepare for every game like I'm going to play. That's all you can do. It helped to go on the road, to be around. Whether I play or not, I'll be ready."
He'll play.
RETRO FIT: Former Bengals cornerback Adam Jones takes a spin as Sunday's Paycor Ruler of the Jungle, along with the two sons of late Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry.
So that means it's a good time to take a look back at one of Jones' more memorable moments as a Bengal. It came the last time the panthers were here in 2014, the year Jones led the NFL in kick returns.
But they hadn't planned for Jones to take this one with 4:58 left and the Panthers up, 31-24. But Jones had other ideas. He bolted on to the field before anyone could say anything and went 97 yards on his longest return of the season. He was dragged down at the 3, but the Bengals took just one play to tie it and set up that 37-37 tie in overtime, still the highest scoring tie in NFL history.
INACTIVES: Cornerback Tre Flowers (hamstring) couldn't go and joined the injured on the inactive list with slot cornerback Mike Hilton, wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and nose tackle Josh Tupou. Other inactives were running back Trayveon Williams and offensive linemen Jackson Carman and D'Ante Smith.
