Bengals 53-man roster – Syndication Server

Bengals who could be on trade block at final cuts deadline

The Bengals could look to make a trade or two ahead of final cuts.

The Cincinnati Bengals have been known to make a minor trade here or there over the summer and around final cuts.

That could especially be the case this year, as recouping something in return for a player they might cut or lose while trying to slip them onto the practice squad is a good idea.

Here are a handful of names the team might not be able to slip onto a practice squad and perhaps might have some trade value.

TE Tanner Hudson: Fourth-round tight end Erick All seems ready a little earlier than anticipated and has been showing up in two-tight end packages. Sixth-rounder Tanner McLachlan simply won’t make it onto the practice squad. That means Hudson, though exciting, is the odd man out at 29 years old as they already keep five on the final roster.

LB Joe Bachie: While Bachie has shown some notable flashes and has uses on special teams, he’s also had problems staying healthy. Now, undrafted breakout Maema Njongmeta likely pushes him off the roster.

WR: Kendric Pryor: The team already cut Hakeem Butler and Kwamie Lassiter II, yet still isn’t done at wideout. Pryor always shines during the summer and might have some value to other teams.

DL Jay Tufele: Two rookies behind two starters, plus promising showings from the likes of Carlos Davis, leave Tufele on some shaky ground. It feels almost 50-50 if he makes it, though other teams might offer something via trade to have him in their rotation.

The final cut deadline is 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, with a running tracker of Bengals cuts already live.

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Bengals should get bold by going after Eagles DL for help, says NFL analyst

One analyst wanted the Bengals to trade for a DE who was just released.

The Cincinnati Bengals need some help at the defensive edges before the season and might use the waiver wire or even trades to make it happen.

It was no secret the Bengals entered 2024 wanting to keep Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard fresh for the entire season, but a season-ending injury to Cam Sample, the retirement of Jeff Gunter and a new injury for former first-rounder Myles Murphy has decimated the team’s depth.

Now, a name just cut by the Philadelphia Eagles might be able to provide that help.

Bleacher Report recently suggested the Bengals should strike up a trade with the Eagles for edge rusher Julian Okwara:

The Bengals would be wise to start scanning the league for teams that might be loaded at the position and willing to deal a player. The Eagles would qualify. Julian Okwara is only 26 years old and was a rotational pass-rusher in Detroit for three seasons.

Good news for the Bengals — they won’t even have to do that, as Okwara was one of the cuts just announced by the Eagles.

A 2020 third-round pick, Okwara has never played more than 40 percent of a defense’s snaps in a season and has tallied nine sacks over 38 games.

Okwara would indeed be the type of low-cost signing the Bengals might attempt to make in an effort to bolster the depth. Someone like late-round rookie Cedric Johnson might make the final roster, too, but more might be better early in the season as the team slowly brings back Murphy after the first month of action.

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Bengals’ underrated OL manned LT, RT while fighting for final roster

One of the most overlooked stories of Bengals training camp might be its best.

The story of Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman Jaxson Kirkland has gone overlooked at training camp.

No wonder, with names like Ja’Marr Chase in the headlines, the odd Jermaine Burton saga and rookie breakouts all over the place.

But Kirkland’s story is one of the best — and it might be critically important, too.

For attentive fans, Kirkland was the exciting undrafted free agent from 2023 out of Washington who fell out of the draft seemingly for medical reasons, so there was hope he could slow-burn his way into being a contributor.

It appears that time has arrived.

Kirkland spent his first pro year on the practice squad and this summer has been all over the place for the Bengals — literally.

As Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com noted, Kirkland played both guard and tackle spots this summer for line coach Frank Pollack:

Kirkland not only threw around his physicality and mean streak at both guard spots, but he moved out to both tackles at a moment’s notice in the last two games and held up well both times.

Pollack and Co. apparently gave Kirkland little notice before his start at left tackle and playing time at right tackle in different preseason games this summer.

It seems pretty obvious that the Bengals liked what they saw. Former second-round pick Jackson Carman was named in the first wave of cuts and he was a presence at the tackle spots. D’Ante Smith is out for the year, so that leaves Kirkland as a primary backup, barring a shocker.

And when a guy who fell out of the draft can play at least four spots on the line, he’s pretty valuable to a team. Kirkland will probably make the final roster by Tuesday’s deadline, keeping him right on track for what fans and media hoped when he chose the Bengals after last year’s draft.

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Bengals should go after free-agent RB before cutdowns, says NFL analyst

Should the Bengals go after this free agent near final cuts?

The Cincinnati Bengals will use a committee approach at running back next season, spearheaded by the Chase Brown-Zack Moss combo.

But after those two on the depth chart, Trayveon Williams is the third back and is useful on special teams and Cincinnati’s first wave of final cuts let go of another depth name.

With just four running backs on the roster as of this writing, Bleacher Report suggested the Bengals should go out and target free agent Eno Benjamin:

There are plenty of older backs still available, but there isn’t much upside there. Eno Benjamin is still 25 years old and had over 500 total yards while playing for three teams in 2022.

Benjamin, a seventh-round pick in 2020 by Arizona, has now played for three different NFL teams and would indeed be a useful depth name in Cincinnati.

That said, the Bengals still have undrafted rookie Elijah Collins to consider, plus whoever they manage to keep on the practice squad. They could potentially only keep three backs on the initial 53 and rely on weekly call-ups if necessary.

There’s also the chance the Bengals really like another name who becomes available during leaguewide cuts by Tuesday’s deadline. If the Bengals make a move at the position, it will probably be once they see who shakes loose.

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Bengals waive Jackson Carman, 11 total players after final preseason game

The Bengals trimmed the roster with some cuts.

The Cincinnati Bengals waived 11 players after their preseason finale, announcing the moves on Friday.

Cincinnati let the following players go:

–WR Hakeem Butler
–HB Noah Cain
–OT Jackson Carman
–DE Andre Carter
–LB Aaron Casey
–S Michael Dowell
–CB Allan George
–WR Kwamie Lassiter II
–QB Rocky Lombardi
–G Eric Miller
–DT Joshua Pryor

Of the names there, Jackson Carman is by far the biggest. The former second-round pick couldn’t carve out a starting job over a handful of years in Cincinnati and was demoted to the fourth team over the course of the last two preseason games.

Wideout Hakeem Butler was a big-name signing for the team during training camp, but he couldn’t break through the stacked depth chart. Similarily, Lassiter had another fantastic summer, yet loses to the numbers game.

The undrafted Aaron Casey was one of two guys the Bengals paid up extra for after the draft, yet the other — Maema Njongmeta — was one of the biggest breakouts of training camp.

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Bengals undrafted free agent might’ve locked 53-roster spot already

This Bengals UDFA just had a massive NFL debut.

Cincinnati Bengals fans might want to get to know the name Maema Njongmeta.

Granted, some fans knew the name already. After all, Njongmeta was one of two undrafted free agents the Bengals paid up extra to secure after this year’s draft.

And now we know why.

Njongmeta, quietly, just paced the Bengals in defensive snap count (45) and tackles (100) during the preseason encounter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That earned him a 91.4 PFF grade, too.

College production is a good sign of future success at the linebacker spot in the pros, so it shouldn’t come as a shock to hear he was a stat sheet-stuffer at Wisconsin.

The Bengals could always use some new blood at linebacker, too. Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt are the locks, with Akeem Davis-Gaither at least around for the short term. Njongmeta clearly has the talent to push the likes of Joe Bachie for a roster spot.

This is just how things tend to go in the NFL, too. Many went into the summer thinking it was punter Austin McNamara who could be the surprise success story as an undrafted free agent.

Instead, McNamara is no longer on the roster and here is Njongmeta, simply standing above most of the other players on the field already in his pro debut.

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Bengals 53-man roster, practice squad by jersey number ahead of Week 9

A look at the Bengals roster before a primetime showdown vs. Bills.

The Cincinnati Bengals enter Week 9 with a stacked 53-man roster that is mostly healthy and a quality practice squad with plenty of players capable of coming up and helping in a pinch.

Good thing, too, because Week 9 is a “Sunday Night Football” showdown against the Buffalo Bills, a rematch of the two games they played last year and a game with direct AFC playoff seeding implications.

A good roster doesn’t mean the team shouldn’t look to make an upgrade at the NFL trade deadline, though, so we put together a primer for that, too.

Here’s a look at the Bengals 53-man roster and practice squad by jersey number.