Cincinnati Bengals: Looking at the undrafted free agents

QB Quinton Flowers

Flowers was a quarterback in college, but in all likelihood must switch positions to find any level of success in the NFL. He showed a decent ability to attack downfield (13 touchdown passes of 21+ yards) and was loathe to turn the ball over (21 interceptions in three seasons as starter; 71:21 TD:INT ratio), but he’s only 5-10 and is lacking in essentially every technical area as a quarterback.

Lucky for him, he was effective as a runner from the position throughout high school and college, so a transition to running back shouldn’t be especially difficult. He was nine yards away from ending his college career with three straight 1,000-yard rushing campaigns. He picked up 41 rushing touchdowns in that time as well. The passing skills he does possess could come in handy for the occasional trick play too.

The No. 3 running back spot behind Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard is up for grabs to a large group of players (Brian Hill, Jarveon Williams, 2018 fourth-round pick Mark Walton), so it’ll be difficult for Flowers to break through.

RB Ray Lawry

Lawry isn’t a player without talent. He picked up over 4,000 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns across his four years of college, including leading the C-USA in rushing yards in 2015. A severe hamstring injury was supposed to end his final college season early, but he managed to surprisingly make it back for the final half of the year.

At the end of the day though, he is another short-stature back (5-10, 204 pounds) who is entering a roster with an abundance of those type of players already in tow. It would be a big surprise to see him get the call over any of the other running backs in tow.

WR Adonis Jennings

While his name is on point, Jennings’ production in college doesn’t quite live up to it. He slowly worked his way up the pecking order at Temple after transferring from Pitt following his freshman season, eventually becoming his team’s top receiving option last season. Still, even then he maxed out with a statline of 42 receptions, 742 yards, and seven touchdowns for a team barely over .500.

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Cincinnati already has a deep cache of receivers they liked before hitting the draft, so even if they do find his Jennings’ size tantalizing (6-3), he has as big of a hill to climb towards a roster spot as any of these undrafted players.

WR Devonte Boyd

While Jennings may have a better name and physical build than Boyd, the latter brings a better wealth of proven ability to the table. While Jennings took awhile to put up decent statistics and earn a major role, Boyd was the leading receiver for UNLV in all four seasons he played. Three of those four seasons saw him outpace Boyd’s best year in terms of yardage, and he ended up with more touchdowns than him as well (18, compared to 13).

While Jennings improved every year though, for whatever reason Boyd saw his production drop every year. Part of that was surely health-related, which with his slender build could be an issue at the next level. Despite that, his per-play effectiveness trended upward (15.1/16.7/16.6/18.0 yards per reception averages, 2014-17), so when he has been available he’s consistently shown improvement even if the box score stats don’t show it.

Boyd will have just as tough a time making the roster as Jennings, but he has more production success to help build his cause.

WR Virnel Moon

If the other two seemed like the other two would have tough times breaking through on the roster, Moon’s is even more tenuous. He is easily the smallest and lightest of the three receivers here (5-10, 165 pounds), and his production doesn’t stand out from either of them.

If he is making the roster, it’ll be because of his return abilities. Moon returned three kickoffs for touchdowns last year, and four times he picked up 70+ yards on returns. If he can lean into that aspect of his game, he can challenge for the role Alex Erickson held with the team last season. While it may sound far-fetched, remember that Erickson came out of nowhere for that role in the first place.

TE Jordan Franks

Franks has decent size to work with, but there isn’t much there beyond it. He may be able to block, but he doesn’t appear to offer much in the way of receiving abilities. He had only 43 receptions in four college seasons, barely eclipsing 500 receiving yards and scoring only two touchdowns in that time.

I’d say he has no shot, but this team has made plenty of questionable tight end decisions in the Andy Dalton era; seeing him take over for either of C.J. Uzomah or Cethan Carter wouldn’t be a shock (even if it were ultimately the wrong decision).

OL Austin Fleer

The linemen who end up drafted in the NFL usually come with a ton of size; if you don’t have it, you can become a constant risk of being overpowered at the next level. This is a big part of why Fleer went undrafted: he was too light. It also didn’t help that he played D-II football, meaning whatever competition he faced before wasn’t the same tier of most drafted players.

This is the sort of guy undrafted free agency is perfect for, though. While he has some clear limitations to overcome, he has some advantages on his side. What he lacks in weight he makes up for by being especially tall (6-7). That lacking weight has also allowed him to work on secondary traits which could give him an edge: agility, quickness, footwork.

Take those skills and put them on a body which he’s worked on adding weight and muscle to, and he could become a legitimate asset. Do that with a team in dire need of offensive line help (like Cincinnati), and he may find himself possibly challenging for a starting spot at some point if things break in his favor.

OL Mason Hampton

Cincinnati started their draft with the Billy Price pick, but they didn’t address it enough. They almost certainly need these undrafted guys to challenge for a spot. Fleer definitely should, but Hampton should be given a shot as well.

Hampton was the center for a Boise State team which went 42-12 over four years and won three bowl games. His blocking was a key part of that success, and he should at least add a new face who can challenge for a backup spot at the interior spots.