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The biggest game of the Bengals season is here, and Jermaine Burton won’t be a part of the team’s final efforts to make the postseason.
Cincinnati is hanging onto its slim playoff hopes entering the team’s regular-season finale in Pittsburgh. The Bengals must win on Saturday and then wait to see if the Dolphins and Broncos lose in their respective matchups. If that plays out, then Joe Burrow and Co. sneak into the AFC playoffs as the No. 7 seed.
If the Bengals are going to complete the first step of that process, they will do so without their starting kick returner. The wide receiver/returner is not with the team in Pittsburgh for its final regular season contest.
Burton has been the club’s starting kick returner for the past seven games. He is 10th in the NFL with 29.1 yards per return, and he has four catches for 107 yards.
The latest benching marks yet another issue in Cincinnati involving Burton. Here’s more on the Week 18 decision and the wide receiver’s history of trouble.
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Where is Jermaine Burton?
Burton did not travel with the Bengals to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers in the regular season finale. This decision was made by Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor.
Neither Burton nor the Bengals have commented on the matter, though recently, Burton was evicted from his apartment in Cincinnati and sued by his landlord. In a further development, Burton has been accused of committing assault, although no charges were filed.
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Jermaine Burton timeline of trouble
The Week 18 benching is not the first Burton has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Week 9 healthy scratch
Burton was a healthy scratch for the Bengals’ Week 9 game against the Raiders. It was reported that he missed a walk-through the day before the game. Burton was expected to see an increased role against Las Vegas with Tee Higgins out that week, but he was not available for the contest.
“As the week unfolded, there was a lot of positive things people were saying about him,” Taylor said Nov. 3. “It was all true. And then late in the week … we’ve just got to handle business the right way. And so, I can sit here and say it was a difficult decision to make him inactive, but it was absolutely the right decision with all the information we had.”
He didn’t help his cause when he showed up for the game the next morning in pajama pants.
Burton evicted from Cincinnati apartment
Week 18 wasn’t just a bad week for Burton with the Bengals. He also found himself evicted from his apartment in Cincinnati and hit with a lawsuit from his landlord.
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Burton reportedly was given a three-day notice to vacate his apartment on Dec. 17, but the wide receiver has not complied.
The landlord is seeking over $2,500 in rent and an additional $75.35 per day for every day that Burton does not leave the apartment, according to court documents.
Burton accused of assault
A report from the Cincinnati Enquirer on Jan. 8 finally revealed the potential reason as to why Burton did not travel with the team to Pittsburgh in Week 18.
On the morning of Dec. 30, Burton was accused of assaulting a woman he was dating outside of her apartment. In a 911 call obtained by the Enquirer, the alleged victim can be heard saying “Jermaine Burton on the Bengals just broke into my house. He wouldn’t let me go inside. And he choked me (unintelligible) in the hallway.. and when I did go inside, he chased me upstairs. He broke into my house. He broke my phone. This is the second time he’s broken my phone in the past month. He broke my phone. He hit me and he left.”
Ultimately, the woman refused to press charges and it appears that Burton will not have to appear in court for these alleged actions.
As of now, the Cincinnati Bengals have no comment on the matter.