The Bengals placed linebacker Preston Brown on injured reserve, per a team announcement. To fill his spot, the club signed defensive end Kasim Edebali. 
Brown missed the club’s Week 11 game against the Ravens with a leg injury and it turned out to be a season-ender. The 26-year-old will finish out the year with 42 tackles, two sacks, and four passes defensed in seven starts.
Brown led the league in tackles in 2017 while playing the third-most defensive snaps (1,180) of any linebacker in the NFL. Despite his success with the Bills and a near-perfect attendance record, he wound up settling for a one-year free agent deal with the Bengals in March. Brown was hoping to use that deal as a platform to a big payday in the 2019 offseason, but he’s back to square one after an underwhelming year in Cincinnati.
Edebali, a fifth-year pro, spent the first three seasons of his career with the Saints, before bouncing around between the Broncos, Lions, Rams, and the Saints once again in 2017. He has 61 career games and eight sacks to his credit.
The Bengals’ defense has not lived up to expectations this year and ranks just 27th in defensive DVOA, according to Football Outsiders. Brown wasn’t setting the world on fire before his injury, but losing him surely will not help matters.
The 5-5 Bengals will face the Browns without Brown on Sunday afternoon.
