The young Bengals got even younger Tuesday when they put special teams co-captain Cedric Peerman on season-ending injured reserve and they shipped fourth-year linebacker Marquis Flowers to the Patriots for a seventh-round pick as they braced for WILL linebacker Vontaze Burfict’s appeal of a five-game suspension.
The Flowers deal gives them the six backers that played the best in the preseason: Burfict, middle man Kevin Minter, and SAM backer Nick Vigil as the starters and backups Vincent Rey, and rookies Carl Lawson and Jordan Evans as backups.