Head coach Marvin Lewis said after the game he thinks Johnson will be healthy enough to play at Baltimore in the season opener Sept. 7 but that is not an absolute.
Johnson’s shoulder had to be popped back into place after he fell on it during a play in which Lions cornerback Brian Kelly stole the ball away from Johnson on a pass from quarterback Carson Palmer. He was unavailable for comment after the game.
“We’ll be able to treat it conservatively,” said Lewis. “He obviously needs to get it strengthened. It came out and went right back in, on the field.”
Johnson definitely will not play in next Saturday’s game at home against New Orleans. The Bengals close out the preseason on Aug. 28 at Indianapolis.
“It’s just going to be time on task, and see how he feels,” said Lewis. “Some of these things come back right away and they’re ready to go very quickly. We have a lot of guys that deal with this all the time – a lot of players that play with these things. A couple years ago, Landon Johnson, when he was a rookie, played the whole year with it. With the position he plays it shouldn’t be an issue as it would with some positions.”
The Bengals have worked most of the preseason without their other starting wide receiver at practice. T.J. Houshmandzadeh has been hampered by a hamstring strain since the first week of training camp.
It is likely Palmer won’t work with Johnson and Houshmandzadeh on the practice field together at the same time until preseason is over.
“It might not happen,” said Palmer. “But when Chad comes back and is 100 percent and running around and T.J. is 100 percent we have enough time on task together; it’s going on six years with those guys. Just reading body languages is one of the biggest things for me and I think I have a really good feel for their body language when they’re coming in and out of routes.”