With Cutdown Day taking place yesterday, here are my thoughts on how the Bengals roster looks going into the season. 

Offense

Quarterback – Joe Cool was a no brainer here, he’s your franchise, your future MVP, and (hopefully) your first Super Bowl winning QB.  

Jake Browning, given his late season play from last year, is a good choice at the backup spot.  With only one game in 2023 where he tossed more INTs than TDs, I think he showed enough to be named the Bengals backup. His preseason performance left something to be desired but, with only 18 drop backs, I believe the Bengals coaching staff believes in him too. 

Cut – Logan Woodside, Rocky Lombardi. 

Running Backs – We know, as much as you can know in the NFL, that Zack Moss and Chase Brown are RB1a and RB1b. Trayveon Williams saw heavy usage in the preseason finale against the Colts last Thursday with 11 rushes and 5 receptions totaling 77 yards so he’s their guy and that feels like a good choice as he showed he can run and catch. If they need players in season, they’ll be promoted from the practice squad. 

Cut – Elijah Collins and Noah Cain. Chris Evans is on the IR. 

Wide Receivers - Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Jermaine Burton are locked-in as starters so that leaves us with Andrei Losivas, Charlie Jones, and Trenton Irwin as the backups and special teamers. This might have been the most cut-and-dried spot on the roster. 

Cut – Kendric Pryor, Shedrick Jackson, Cole Burgess, Hakeem Butler, Kwame Lassiter II 

Tight Ends – Mike Gesicki is the presumed starter, if Ja’Marr chase decides to miss game over his extension, you might see more two tight end formations with Drew Sample initially, and the staff working Erick All Jr. into the mix. With the absence of a fullback on this roster they kept Tanner Hudson. I’m a little surprised they kept Tanner McLachlan, but this might be a self-solving issue as the season moves on.  

Cut – Cam Grandy 

Offensive Line – With a presumed starting line of Orlando Brown Jr., Cordell Volson, Ted Karras, Alex Cappa, and Trent Brown, that seems like a pretty good lineup in front of Joe Burrow. You need backups though and Jaxson Kirkland, 2024 First Round pick Amarius Mims are both in. I’ll admit that It’s not as easy for me to distinguish the difference between the 8th and 11th best linemen so I’m guessing that Matt Lee and Cody Ford were the best choices to have made the final roster. 

Cut – Devon Cochran, Nate Gilliam, Trey Hill, Jackson Carman Eric Miller. D’Ante Smith is on the IR. 

Defense

Defensive Line – Sam Hubbard, B.J. Hill, Sheldon Rankins, and Trey Hendrickson make for a solid D-line, even if they get overshadowed by other, flashier lines around the NFL. Cedrick Johnson, Jay Tufele, Zach Carter, and Joseph Ossai are the backups which isn’t a terrible group either. Kris Jenkins and McKinnley Jackson round out the initial group but there will be changes as 2023 First Rounder Myles Murphy begins the season on the IR with a knee injury (must miss first four games minimum), he suffered last week during co-practice with Indianapolis. 

Cut – Justin Blazek, Andre Carter, Josh Pryor, Travis Bell, Carlos Davis, Domenique Davis. 

Linebackers – Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, and Akeem Davis-Gathier are your starters are the starters who make for a steady and experienced (if unspectacular) core. Just two backups made the roster with Joe Bachie and UDFA Maema Njongmeta. 

Cut – Aaron Casey, Devin Harper, Shaka Heywood. 

Cornerbacks – A pair of former Second Round picks in Cam Britt-Taylor and DJ Turner II hold down the starting spots with Mike Hilton and Dax Hill as the backups. Rookie Josh Newton rounds out the corners. Overall, a mix of youth and experience that I have high hopes for though it remains to be seen how well they will do at creating turnovers. 

Cut – Allen George, Jalen Davis, Nate Brooks, Lance Robinson.

Safeties – Vonn Bell returns for another tour with the Bengals and looks to start at the Strong Safety position with Geno Stone at Free Safety. Tycen Anderson, Jordan Battle, and rookie Daijahn Anthony round out the safety room.  This feels like another unit that could surprise this season with some better-than-expected play. 

Cut – PJ Jules.

Specialists

Specialists – Handling kicking duties will be Evan McPherson, long snapping will be handled by Cal Adomitis, and for the second year in a row, a rookie will handle punting duties with Ryan Rehkow taking over. 

Wrap-up

Overall, this looks like a solid roster with the potential to compete for an AFC North title (and more) provided they get some unexpected performances from unexpected places. The offense will be excellent, though you should enjoy it as much as you can, this is almost certainly the last go-round of this iteration of the Bengals offense. The running backs should be about what you got from the departed Joe Mixon last season, the offensive line looks primed, and if Joe Burrow stays healthy, they have a great chance at a postseason run. 

The defense will be adequate to keep them in most games this season with the potential to be unexpectedly good if the secondary unit can play above their heads and force some timely turnovers. 

We won’t know if this is the roster trotting out on September 8th against New England until after Wednesday’s flurry of roster moves are complete but, for now, it’s very solid. 

Prediction – Second in the AFC North, Make AFC Championship game.