Cincinnati Bengals: Looking at the undrafted free agents
By Kenn Korb
A look at the undrafted free agents added by the Cincinnati Bengals since the 2018 NFL Draft concluded.
The biggest spectacle of the NFL offseason came to an end nearly a week ago. For every team in the league, the NFL Draft is the best opportunity for franchises to add new, young talent on valuable, cost-controlled contracts. For teams like the Cincinnati Bengals, a franchise which relies particular on those sort of assets, it especially carries weight.
The draft isn’t the final major avenue of the offseason talent acquisition, however; that part comes immediately after, with the undrafted free agents. Even before the final draft pick is selected, teams are already working to line up signings with the players who don’t get chosen. The players who go undrafted may not have been selected due to any number of reasons (athletic limitations, injuries, off-field troubles, etc), but that doesn’t mean they can’t potentially have something of value to offer.
Every year we see numerous teams enter the season with UDFAs on their roster, and sometimes we even see those players become some of the best individuals on those rosters. We’ve seen Hall of Famers begin their careers without being drafted, as well as numerous others who’ve managed to be successful and stick on rosters for multiple years. Cincinnati is no stranger to this; they found Vontaze Burfict here, and he’s arguably been the most important piece on their roster ever since.
Star-level play isn’t and shouldn’t be an expectation for players found here, though. As I said before, there are legitimate concerns which caused them to not be picked in the first place. Given the right situation and a dose of luck however, they can still carve themselves a role.
Can any of the undrafted free agents picked up by Cincinnati this year manage to do that? To begin figuring that out, let’s look at what each of them brings to the table. This will include not only official UDFA signings, but some players who were brought in for minicamp tryouts.