The Cincinnati Bengals will, at the very least, be without one of their top two pass catchers on Sunday when they host the Houston Texans. The club already ruled out receiver Tee Higgins as the veteran suffered a hamstring injury on Wednesday and did not practice the rest of the week. Meanwhile, fellow wideout Ja'Marr Chase is questionable after missing practice on Wednesday due to a back injury that also limited him on Thursday and Friday.
With Higgins out and Chase's status still up in the air, the Bengals gave themselves some insurance at the receiver position leading into Sunday as they elevated wideouts Shedrick Jackson and Stanley Morgan from the practice squad. While few receivers in the league can replicate what Higgins and Chase bring to an offense, the Bengals are giving themselves some depth at the position in the event that both are unable to play or if Chase is limited in any fashion against Houston.
Jackson is an undrafted rookie out of Auburn and has yet to play in a regular season game for the Bengals. As for Morgan, he has been with Cincinnati since the team signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Nebraska. He's played in 49 regular season games throughout his career and has five catches on 15 targets for 29 yards. This year, Morgan has played in just one game, and the 10 snaps he did see the field were on special teams.
If Chase is unable to play, both Jackson and Morgan will be depth pieces behind veteran receiver Tyler Boyd, running back Joe Mixon, and tight end Irv Smith Jr., who are the next most-targeted pass-catchers in the Bengals offense.
