There won’t be a Trae Waynes revenge game

Not this year, anyway

Since leaving the Minnesota Vikings after five seasons, things haven’t been easy for cornerback Trae Waynes. He missed all of last season with a pectoral injury, and now it turns out that he’s not going to get his first shot at his former team when the 2021 season opens next week.

According to our friends over at Cincy Jungle, Waynes has already been ruled out for the season opener on Sunday. This time it will be because of a hamstring injury that he suffered during Training Camp, his second such injury of the offseason.

The Vikings selected Waynes with the 11th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft out of Michigan State, and after not seeing a lot of time as a rookie, he stepped into the starting lineup in his second season and provided steady, if unspectacular, play for the most part. After his contract was up following the 2019 season, he signed a three-year, $42 million deal with the Bengals. As we’ve pointed out, he has yet to suit up for a game for the Bengals thus far.

Waynes’ absence is going to leave the Bengals a little thin at cornerback, which is a tough proposition to face when you have Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen coming to town. While we hope that Waynes recovers and begins to justify his contract with his new team, hopefully the Vikings will be able to take advantage of his absence on Sunday afternoon at Paul Brown Stadium.