A Bengals rookie is working hard to make the team.
Calvin Tyler Jr. out of Utah State was one of the most interesting additions for the Cincinnati Bengals in undrafted free agency this offseason.
Tyler, who ran for 1,122 yards and seven scores on a 4.4 average last year, looks the part of a guy at 5’8″ and 210 pounds who might be able to fight his way into a final roster spot.
He certainly appears to be putting in the work necessary to make that happen, as he recently got featured on social media for one of his big lifts in the weight room. There, he’s pumping out a hack-squat of 300-plus pounds with relative ease.
Tyler has an uphill battle in a room headed up by Joe Mixon, Trayveon Williams and rookie draft pick Chase Brown, but it wouldn’t be too shocking based on what we’ve seen so far if he makes some serious noise during training camp.
Not content there, the Bengals also added Utah State’s Calvin Tyler Jr. on the undrafted free-agent market, according to The Draft Network’s Ryan Fowler.
Tyler ran for 1,122 yards and seven scores on a 4.4 average last year and caught 15 passes, with TDN’s Damian Parson explaining some of his strengths:
Calvin Tyler Jr. is a fun football player. He checks the boxes for the prototypical scat running back. He has a short and squatty frame that offers some dynamism in space. He also has quick footwork to change gaps when defensive colors flash. He presses gaps with patience before finalizing his decision. His open-field burst offers optimism regarding his potential as a receiving back. A low center of gravity allows him to hide behind the OL as he maneuvers the box to find an open lane.
Tyler checking in at 5’8″ and 210 pounds might work against him in the pros as he could be relegated to niche roles. But he’s got the productivity and testing the coaches like.
The Aggies standout will be in a roster battle with his two fellow rookies behind the likes of Trayveon Williams and Chris Evans this summer.
The Utah State Aggies have had a knack for developing running backs over the years. Calvin Tyler Jr. is just the latest example of that pipeline, worthy of a look as part of this year’s draft class.
A native of Beaumont, Texas, Tyler Jr. committed to Oregon State out of high school and played sparingly before transferring to Utah State ahead of the 2021 season. He became part of the Aggies’ surprising run to the Mountain West football crown that year by making 11 starts and rushing for a team-best 884 yards and seven touchdowns, then topped 1,000 yards in 2022 while earning a spot on the all-Mountain West second-team offense.
Height – 5′ and 7 1/2″ Weight – 204 pounds 40-yard time – 4.52 seconds 10-yard split time – 1.61 seconds Arm length – 28 3/8″ Hand size – 8 1/2″ Wingspan – 68″ Vertical jump – 34″ Broad jump – 9′ (or 108″) Shuttle time – 4.34 seconds 3-cone drill time – 7.23 seconds Bench press – 14 reps
Highlights
Strengths
Given his overall physical profile, it’s safe to say that tackling Tyler Jr. is sometimes like tackling a tank. His low center of gravity makes him difficult to bring down and his patient, tough running style makes for a lot of broken tackles: In 2021, Pro Football Focus credited him with 47 missed tackles forced, the most among Mountain West running backs, and he followed that up with 49 more in 2022 (fifth in MW).
While it wasn’t his primary responsibility in Utah State’s downfield passing offense, Tyler Jr. also has adequate hands as a pass catcher out of the backfield with just two drops on 40 career targets.
Weaknesses
The drawbacks to Tyler’s lack of overall size are the usual ones. In particular, The Draft Network’s Damian Parson notes that he’ll need to improve as a pass protector in order to better carve out a role in the pros, an observation which bears itself out in the fact that PFF graded him out at just 57.1 on that front last season.
Additionally, while Tyler Jr.’s 40-yard sprint time is better than that of peers like Titus Swen and Toa Taua, other metrics suggest it may not be more than just fine. Using Football Outsiders’ Speed Score formula, his 97.7 result would have been just below the middle of the pack among those at his position who ran at the NFL Combine.
NFL Comparison
Devin Singletary
Draft Prediction
I do think some NFL teams will be tempted to select Tyler Jr. as a late-round flyer, but my official prediction is that he’ll ultimately be a hot commodity as an undrafted free agent.
