Cameron Sample will be sidelined for the entire 2024 season. The fourth-year Bengals defensive end has suffered an Achilles tear, head coach Zac Taylor confirmed on Monday. 
[RELATED: Recapping Bengals’ Offseason]
The injury occurred during Friday’s practice, and Sample was carted off the field. Today’s news means he will be unavailable for the campaign, something of particular importance for his financial future. Sample, 25 in September, is a pending free agent. This injury will no doubt hurt his market value.
The former fourth-round pick has been a regular on defense during his Cincinnati tenure, making 47 appearances in the regular season and another six in the playoffs. Sample has only made three starts in that time, but his absence will still be felt along the edge for the Bengals. The Tulane alum has collected 58 tackles and five sacks while maintaining a steady snap share in each of the past three years.
The Bengals will move forward with Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard as starters along the edge. Sample’s injury will leave the team relying more heavily on the likes of Joseph Ossai and Myles Murphy. The former has struggled to stay healthy and productive in the NFL so far, but he is confident in a breakout campaign in 2024, the final year of his rookie contract. The latter, meanwhile, will look to build off his three-sack debut Cincinnati campaign from last season.
The remainder of training camp along with the preseason will provide players like 2022 seventh-rounder Jeff Gunter, sixth-round rookie Cedric Johnson and UDFA Justin Blazek with the opportunity to land a roster spot in Sample’s absence. If Cincinnati deems a late-summer free agent addition to be necessary, the team has over $19MM in cap space to work with. Yannick Ngakoue, Carl Lawson and Charles Harris are among the top veterans still on the market.
Ban tearing ligaments
This is a perfect opportunity to throw Murphy into the fray and see if he sinks or swims. Very simple instructions. Grab whichever man has the big brown ball and take him to the ground. Show him the Adam Sandler movie Waterboy and tell him it’s an instructional video. All kidding aside I would grab Ngakoue for insurance and hope Murphy figures it out. Lawson is running on fumes at this point.