The Cincinnati Bengals lost a crucial piece to their puzzle on Friday. Offensive lineman D’ante Smith suffered a torn patellar tendon, a dispiriting and devastating injury. The injury will cause Smith to miss the entire 2024 NFL regular season.
Jeremy Fowler, one of ESPN’s resident NFL reporters, broke the news on Smith’s status, which deflated Bengals fans and otherwise.
Initial belief is #Bengals OT D’Ante Smith will miss the 2024 season with a patellar tendon injury, per source. MRI results to confirm the exact nature of injury. Smith went down in Thursday’s joint practice with the #Bears on Thursday.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) August 16, 2024
Smith is a native of Georgia who attended East Carolina from 2016 to 2020. In the 2021 NFL Draft, the Bengals selected Smith with a fourth-round pick. Since then, he’s played on a limited basis. But it’s still difficult news to swallow.
Cincinnati figured Smith would be a depth piece behind Orlando Brown Jr. and rookie Amarius Mims on the other side. Now, though, the Bengals might have to look elsewhere with Smith gone for the entire 2024 season. Hopefully, he can make a full recovery and return to action in 2025.
The NFL world reacted to the news on Smith, wishing him well and hoping the best for his recovery.
two of the same exact injury within what was probably an hour https://t.co/xO8VL0qqbX
— John Sheeran (@John__Sheeran) August 16, 2024
Patellar tendon injuries to two players on the same team on the same day is just terrible injury luck for the Bengals, and of course awful for the players involved.
Here’s to a full and speedy recovery to both D’Ante and Chris. https://t.co/iqgVPUX9DO
— Andre Perrotta (@andreperrotta13) August 16, 2024
D’Ante Smith is currently on his way back to Cincinnati for testing to confirm the injury, per source.
Brutal blow for Smith, who was trending toward making the 53. https://t.co/0QEtwfuUvx
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) August 16, 2024
I have never heard of 2 different players rupturing their patellar tendon in the span of like 10 min in the same practice. That’s just horrible luck man. Guy had potential just can’t stay healthy https://t.co/c3S6wtoUU1
— Perc Nowitzki (@Young_Yolaaaa) August 16, 2024
