Bengals Lose Tanner Hudson for Rest of 2026 Season

The Cincinnati Bengals will be without tight end Tanner Hudson for the remainder of the 2026 NFL season after he tore a pectoral muscle during the team's 31-24 victory over the Miami Dolphins on October 11. WLWT reporter Charlie Clifford reported the injury on Tuesday, October 13, citing Hudson's agent, leaving Cincinnati with fewer options at tight end ahead of its next game.

Hudson is expected to miss the final 12 games of the campaign, according to reports from Cincinnati.com and Sports Illustrated. The injury was sustained during the Bengals' Week 5 win and was confirmed publicly during the team's Week 6 bye week.

The veteran finished his 2026 season with seven receptions for 33 yards and one touchdown, according to Cincinnati.com. He caught the scoring pass from quarterback Joe Burrow against Miami, recording his fifth career touchdown in his 42nd game with Cincinnati.

Hudson entered the NFL in 2018 as an undrafted free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before joining the Bengals. During his time in Cincinnati, he recorded 84 receptions for 707 yards and five touchdowns across 42 games, including three starts.

The tight end began the 2026 season on Cincinnati's practice squad before being elevated to the active roster because of personnel needs. His injury ends a season in which he had recently secured a place on the roster, while his contract is set to expire after the campaign, making him eligible for free agency in 2027.

Cincinnati still has Mike Gesicki, Erick All, Drew Sample and rookie Jack Endries among its tight ends on the 53-man roster. According to Cincinnati.com, Endries, a 2026 NFL Draft selection, could receive more playing time following Hudson's injury.

The Bengals could also pursue another tight end to strengthen their depth, including a potential addition to the practice squad, which had no tight ends listed in the report from Cincy Jungle. The team has time during its bye week to assess its options before returning to action.

Head coach Zac Taylor acknowledged the injury situation during his Monday press conference but did not initially indicate that Hudson's condition would end his season. Cincinnati also lost linebacker Swayze Bozeman to a broken forearm, prompting the team to place him on injured reserve and sign former Notre Dame linebacker Jack Kiser.

Taylor also addressed mistakes that continued to affect Cincinnati despite its win over Miami, including turnovers in the red zone and execution problems on special teams. He emphasized that the team needed to improve those areas as it pursued greater consistency during the remainder of the season.

"Trust me, I'm not going to sit here - we got to win games in this league, and we've all sat in this room and seen some get away from us," Taylor said after the victory.

The coach acknowledged the importance of the result while pointing to mistakes that made the game closer than it needed to be. Cincinnati's defense generated a late turnover that helped produce three additional points, but Taylor said the team needed to eliminate errors involving the kickoff, extra point and field goal.

"We won the game, and I'm excited about that. Then, our defense created a turnover there at the very end that gave us three extra points that made it a 7-point game that made it feel a little bit different. We did some good things.

There are some positive things we did, but there are also some things that we don't turn the ball over in the red zone like that: the kickoff, the PAT, the field goal. Those are things that we're better than that, and we got to clean that up," Taylor said.

Cincinnati entered its bye week at 3-2, trailing the Baltimore Ravens, who stood at 4-1 atop the AFC North, according to Cincinnati.com. The Bengals are scheduled to face Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium on October 25, with Hudson unavailable for the divisional matchup.