Rookie Jermaine Burton had caught two passes and played 49 offensive snaps in the Cincinnati Bengals’ first eight games, so it shouldn’t have been surprising the former Alabama wide receiver was designated as a game-day inactive for Game No. 9 on Sunday – except coach Zac Taylor and quarterback Joe Burrow had indicated the third-round pick was being prepped for a much bigger role with wide receiver Tee Higgins out.

“Jermaine was a big part of the plan,” Taylor said after the Bengals beat the Las Vegas Raiders 41-24, “and as the week unfolded, there were a lot of positive things people were saying about him, and it was all true. And then late in the week, we just got to handle all of our 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 of the information we had.

“He’s a guy who’s going to have, I think, a really good career here, and we’re going to support him. And he wants to help us win and do things the right way. Today was just a necessary step we had to make. But we’re going to get him back in the fold and keep him moving along and becoming a pro. There’s a lot of things to love about Jermaine, so his best days are in front of him, and we’re going to make sure he achieves that.”

Taylor declined to provide specifics about what led to keeping Burton out of uniform just as his opportunity had arrived, but he did say: “Jermaine understands the situation.”

“I still think that his best days are ahead of him,” Taylor said. “We’re going to help him get there. And he wants it for himself. We want it for him as well. Sometimes you have to do things like, well, what we did to help him get to that next part. He understands that, and we’re going to help him get there.”

Cincinnati cornerback Mike Hilton was more blunt after the game than his coach.

“When you get to this point in your career, you got to grow up,” the eight-year veteran said. “You’re a grown man. Nobody’s going to baby you anymore.”

Working as an analyst during ABC’s coverage of the NFL Draft on April 26, former Alabama coach Nick Saban said Burton needed more “emotional maturity” as he took his ability to the pros.

“The No. 1 thing that he needs to do — and I think emotional maturity is the best way to say it — is do the right things all the time,” Saban said. “He does the right things on the field. He knows the importance of what he has to do in the field. He wants to be a player. That’s all he thinks about.

“But you’ve got to do the right things in your life all the time so that you can do the best things that you can do on the field and be the best you can do.”

With Higgins missing because of a quadriceps injury, the Bengals didn’t seem to miss the help that Burton was supposed to provide on Sunday. Seven players had receptions in support of Pro Bowl wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, with four players catching quarterback Joe Burrow’s five touchdown passes.

“We had guys step up today,” Burrow said. “We had guys get their first playing time, make their first catches and make some big-time plays for us, so I was confident in the guys we had out there.”

Burrow said he hadn’t given up on Burton.

“I think Jermaine’s going to be a great player,” Burrow said after Sunday’s game. “He’s just got to do the little things right. He’s a guy that you like his demeanor. You like his energy. You like how he practices. He practices hard. He’s got a chance. …

“We’ll have discussions, and just like any young player, you’re going to try to help him along anyway that you can. As he gets older, he’ll understand things in a different way.”

Sunday’s victory moved the Bengals to 4-5 heading into their AFC North game against the Baltimore Ravens at 7:15 p.m. CST Thursday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Prime Video will televise the game.

The Ravens have a 6-3 record after defeating the Denver Broncos 41-10 on Sunday.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.