Former UGA wide receiver AJ Green suffers serious ankle injury after practicing on reportedly questionable field

Former Georgia wide receiver AJ Green left Cincinnati Bengals’ practice on Saturday with an apparent ankle injury. The news of Green’s MRI came back, and it’s bad news for the former Georgia standout. He’s reportedly set to miss 6-to-8 weeks with the injury.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Green is not expected to be ready for Cincinnati’s opener against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 8. Green missed seven games last season due to a toe injury. It was the first time in Green’s career that he failed to top 900 receiving yards in a season.

What makes the news about Green’s injury even worse is that according to a report from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, there were concerns about the field where the Bengals were practicing on prior to Saturday’s practice.

“But after working there for an hour on Saturday, several Bengals staffers were frustrated that Green’s injury happened on a field that they saw as subpar,” Breer wrote. “One mentioned that players were sliding all over the place during what was a shorter-than-usual camp practice. Another saw pebbles lodged into the turf.”

The Bengals were practicing in Dayton, Ohio at Welcome Field, home of the Dayton Flyers football team. The reason for the change in location is due to the NFL wanting to celebrate the location as a part of the league’s 100th anniversary.

Green played at Georgia from 2008-10 and was taken with the No. 4 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. He topped 800 receiving yards in all three of his years in Athens. Green had 23 career touchdown catches in only 32 career games.

The former Bulldog has spent his entire NFL career with Cincinnati and racked up seven Pro Bowl appearances in the process. Only twice in his eight-year career has Green failed to top 1,000 receiving yards in a season. Green is also the last Georgia receiver to be taken in the first round of the NFL draft.

More Georgia football stories from around DawgNation