The Cincinnati Bengals placed running back Jeremy Hill on injured reserve over the weekend with an ankle injury, but head coach Marvin Lewis wants it to be known that Hill is the one who made the decision to call it a season.
On Monday, Lewis told reporters that Hill could have played through the injury and had surgery during the offseason but chose not to.
“Jeremy thinks he needs to have ankle surgery,” Lewis said, per Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Yeah, I think I would be (surprised). I think he’s consulted a couple physicians, both said that this was something that could wait until after the season but he just felt like it was causing too much discomfort.”
While Hill missed the Bengals’ Week 9 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars after tweaking his ankle in practice, he said last week that he was looking forward to facing the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. He wasn’t listed on the official injury report, and Lewis indicated he had no idea Hill was dealing with something serious.
“I don’t think he had any instance of (a problem) since this August when he rolled his ankle in training camp, or whatever it was, training camp or warmups in a game — I can’t remember what it was,” the coach said. “One of those times in the preseason. But that’s the only instance he’s had this fall.”
Hill is in the final year of his contract, and he probably wants to get healthy as quickly as possible so he can start thinking about free agency. The comments Lewis made about the situation were a bit surprising, but his relationship with the former LSU star is obviously not in a good place. Since his exciting rookie season in 2014, Hill has consistently struggled. He has likely played his last snap with the Bengals.
