Cincinnati Bengals: Thoughts on cuts, final 53-man roster

Some thoughts on the players the Cincinnati Bengals kept and cut for the 53-man roster cutdown.

Roster cuts were made on Saturday for the Cincinnati Bengals and all 31 other NFL teams. With them, the final step before the regular season can begin is done and gone.

In all, we saw 28 different transactions to get Cincinnati down to the 53-man roster limit. 25 players were cut or released (semantics, depending on veteran status), two players were sent to injured reserve, and one player was traded away.

For the most part, it was a generally mundane event (from a fan perspective at least; for most players involved, it undoubtedly had to be a stressful affair). There were a few mild surprises, but nothing was too insane.

What I Got Right and Wrong

Looking back at my predictions for the players who would make the roster on offense and defense, I ended up correctly picking 47 of the 53 players who did make it through cuts.

Expected Cuts Who Made It:

QB Jeff Driskel
HB/TE Carter Cethan
OL T.J. Johnson
OG Alex Redmond
DT Pat Sims
CB Keivarae Russell

Expected Makes Who Were Cut:

RB Jarveon Williams
OL J.J. Dielman
OL Eric Winston
DL Will Clarke
CB Tony McRae
S Demetrious Cox

Were Any Of These Decisions Wrong?

Honestly, that would be a difficult claim to back up in terms of the players who stuck around despite my expectations.

Driskel came down with an injury in the final preseason game, but he’d done well enough already that, as long as he wasn’t slated to be out for months, it would make sense to keep him on the final roster. Johnson can play multiple positions, giving him the versatility this team loves in its blockers. Sims should still see a reduced role with the presence of Andrew Billings and Ryan Glasgow, but not having him would’ve left the team pretty thin at defensive tackle.

Redmond appears to be a desirable depth piece at guard for the organization. He could possibly be developed into a future starter. Russell may not have stood out especially well, but he was perhaps steadier than McRae, and that matters. Cethan is probably the biggest surprise, but with injury concerns for C.J. Uzomah it makes sense to hold onto extra depth to begin the season.

Meanwhile, the guys who were cut had reasonable cases to stick around but were by no means locks to do so.

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Williams had a mostly standout final preseason game (150+ rushing and receiving yards combined), but it came with an early fumble and had little in the way of positive performance prior to it. Dielman was a late-round draft pick fighting for the same role as Johnson — apparently Johnson won that competition. McRae had an interception in the final preseason game, but didn’t do enough to solidify a spot ahead of anyone else before that.

Clarke joined Wallace Gilberry in getting ousted for the younger defensive end talents, and though I thought he may be given an edge over Sims, it was at best a paper-thin one. Cox seemed to do enough for consideration, but him not staying on probably points to the health outlook of Cincinnati’s starting safeties being much stronger than the past few weeks would appear to point to.

If there is a big surprise from the list, it’d have to be Winston getting the boot. Cincinnati was already set up terribly thin on the line, not just in skill but available bodies; now, their starters are their only nominal tackles, and tackle-turned-guard andre Smith is their only other player who could likely be expected to be relied on for any snaps if things go wrong.

A Few Final Thoughts

It was good to see Cincinnati willing to cut some of their 2017 draft picks when they didn’t outright win spots. The team has been reluctant to make decisive cuts for their young players before, so letting guys like Dielman and Jake Elliott go this quickly is surprising, but falls in line with what their positional competitions bared out across the summer.

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On the opposite end of the spectrum, seeing Cincinnati be willing to let go of aging veterans they’ve had around for years was another positive step in a strong offseason. Domata Peko, Wallace Gilberry, Will Clarke, Pat Sims and Michael Johnson made up a majority of Cincinnati’s defensive line rotation last season, despite few (if any) looking good in recent seasons. Now, only Johnson and Sims remain from the group, and if things go well with their young players, those two should be gone before 2018 too.

More on Elliott: him losing the competition won’t be the end of him in Cincinnati. He came up short in two meaningless preseason games to lose out to Randy Bullock, but with him making it to Cincinnati’s practice squad, he should be able to work on his consistency and be ready if (when?) Bullock eventually goes through a bad stretch (something he’s done on at least one occasion in his career already).

Seven wideouts feels like a lot, but the group is clearly talented enough to earn that many roster spots outright. Alex Erickson is the best returner the team has, and was their most-used receiver across the preseason. Cody Core also brings enticing qualities to the table. Either would’ve been a tough choice over the other; keeping both makes this probably the strongest position on the roster.

They better hope their tackles are better. With Winston gone, they have one place to turn if either of Jake Fisher or Cedric Ogbuehi go down, and Andre Smith isn’t exactly who any team should hope to see on the field for them these days.

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When Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict return from their respective suspensions, the players who seem most likely to be cut to make room would be Russell and Cethan. Russell plays cornerback like Jones and isn’t essential to their depth, so swapping him out would make sense. Cethan is insurance while Uzomah recovers from an ankle problem. Three weeks from now, that shouldn’t be a problem, so Cethan won’t be necessary anymore.

Another future cut option would be Hardy Nickerson for Burfict, since the linebacker’s presence won’t be as necessary with the return of a better one.