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Cincinnati Bengals Preseason: Players to watch vs Colts

By Kenn Korb

LANDOVER, MD - AUGUST 27: Wide receiver Brian Quick
LANDOVER, MD - AUGUST 27: Wide receiver Brian Quick /
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Here are a few players on the Cincinnati Bengals to watch against the Indianapolis Colts in their preseason finale on Thursday.

The third preseason contest (a.k.a. the unofficial “dress rehearsal” game) has been completed; There are still a few important steps to take before reaching the regular season, however. First up among them is the final preseason contest of the offseason.

We likely won’t learn much about the main players who make up the roster in this game, but we will get more insight as to what players could make up the rest of the 53-man roster.

These guys aren’t likely to change games (at least not in a positive way) for their teams this season, but if they’re going to have the opportunity to get called into action due to injuries/inability above them on the depth chart, they’ll need to make the roster first.

Here’s a few players to keep an eye on against Indianapolis as a good performance may be the difference between a pink slip and a roster spot.

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Cody Core, WR

There has been a ton of excitement around the seemingly sudden talent increase at the skill positions for Cincinnati this offseason. Chief among them: the wide receivers. The additions of John Ross and Josh Malone were instant excitement, sure, but delving deeper showed a handful of young guys who were actually already in tow that had enticing promise.

Among them, the buzz was highest around Core.

He may not have much on-field experience to this point (this is his second year in the league), but he began to see some opportunity at the end of 2016 (19+ snaps in four of the final five games) and has attributes that would appeal to any team. Leading into OTAs, he appeared as poised as anyone outside of the top five on the depth chart (Ross, Malone, A.J. Green, ) to make the final roster.

Unfortunately, he was struck down by injury. It wasn’t as bad as initially feared, but it opened things for others — namely, Alex Erickson — to get a leg up in the competition. Core hasn’t gone away yet, however, and while he may currently be behind a positive showing in this final preseason game could be enough to be kept around.

This could be accomplished in one of two ways. One would be to overtake Erickson on the depth chart. The other, forcing Cincinnati to carry seven wide receivers.

Neither feels especially likely at this moment (Erickson has performed so well he almost assuredly has a spot, while Core is competing with not only his fellow wide receivers but running backs and quarterbacks to force his way into that extra skill position slot), but making an impact against the Colts would go a long way towards things working out in Core’s favor.

Mason Schreck, TE

When he was drafted, I couldn’t help but just sigh a little. Suffice to say, Schreck is not exactly an exciting tight end prospect. Because of what else the Bengals have at tight end behind Tyler Eifert though, his path to a roster spot could be more open that it first appeared.

For the past couple seasons, Eifert has been backed up by the placid duo of C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Kroft. In their time in the NFL, neither has done much more than be the definition of “okay”. They both can kind of block, sort of run routes, and catch a little bit, but neither will ever be the sort of players a smart team turns to on a given play by choice.

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Schreck figures to be right in that ballpark himself, which puts him in the position where even a single above-average performance could give him an edge over the incumbents.

What also could help: Uzomah’s injury earlier this summer. He went down with a severe ankle sprain earlier this month, and hasn’t been in even the most recent preseason game. So far, Schreck hasn’t exactly done anything to push the team away from Uzomah yet (he has a single seven-yard catch through three preseason games), but a nice showing could definitely help his cause.

It definitely couldn’t hurt, because as things stand now even having Uzomah go on IR due to an intense aggravation of his injury wouldn’t give Schreck a spot as things stand now.

Clayton Fejedelem/Derron Smith

When Shawn Williams came down with his painful elbow injury earlier this preseason, that immediately put these two backup safeties into the spotlight for Cincinnati. The news since has become more positive (no surgery needed), but these two will still have a bigger role than may have been expected earlier this offseason.

Even without surgery, Williams should miss at least a few games to start the season. The other starting safety (George Iloka) has dealt with a knee issue this summer which could easily end up continuing to hamper him across the year.

With those problems, Fejedelem and Smith will each undoubtedly crucial roles to the success of the secondary this season. What we don’t know yet is which one of these two will be the “next man up”. That’s what this final game could help decide.

Both are young and have little on-field performance to look back on to this point in their careers. Neither has really done much yet this preseason to differentiate themselves from the other. This is their chance.

Because of how important their presences have become due to the injuries above them, they likely aren’t going to participate much against Indianapolis. With that in mind, neither likely gets much time to make a case for themselves.

Next: NFL Power Rankings 2017: Preseason Week 4

What little amount of snaps they each do receive will be their final opportunity to put themselves ahead; a single play here or there could make a major difference. We’ll have to wait and see which one comes out on top, but either way they enter the season with much more integral role than anyone probably expected.

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