Now Higgins is day-to-day, too. Cincinnati's receiver room is running out of bodies.

Chase is already in the concussion protocol — I filed that note Monday — and now Tee Higgins is dealing with an adductor injury that has him listed day-to-day heading into Week 5. That's both starting receivers either unavailable or uncertain, for an offense that was built, specifically and deliberately, around what those two do.

The depth behind them is thin in a way that isn't new information. Andrei Iosivas has been on Injured Reserve since late September. Mitchell Tinsley is back on the roster, which I noted when it happened — his return said everything about where this room stood even before the injuries stacked up. There is no established third option who has done much of anything this season.

Burrow is active, and Chase Brown gives the offense a legitimate outlet in the backfield — 1,019 rushing yards and another 437 receiving last season, so the ground game is real. But this offense was designed to put pressure on defenses through elite receiver production at the top of the route tree. Without Chase and with Higgins uncertain, that pressure disappears. Week 5 is going to tell us something about how much of this offense is Burrow and how much of it was always Chase and Higgins making Burrow look like that.