As far as narratives go, the Bengals not playing their rookies has become a slightly outdated one.
In the past three seasons, Cincinnati has been more than willing to play their early draft picks in their rookie seasons. Tyler Boyd, Nick Vigil, Joe Mixon, Jordan Willis, Carl Lawson and Ryan Glasgow all played significant snaps when they were rookies in 2016 and 2017, and Billy Price, Jessie Bates and Sam Hubbard have all essentially become starters this season. William Jackson, Andrew Billings and John Ross had to wait a bit longer due to injuries, but all three of them eventually became key contributors in time as well.