Cincinnati Bengals: Final 53-man roster cut predictions for 2018
By Kenn Korb
Specialists
* = starters; + = make roster
Jonathan Brown, *Randy Bullock, *Clark Harris, *Kevin Huber
There was never going to be much competition at these areas. Huber and Clark had zero competition, and though Brown seemed ready to challenge Bullock, head coach Marvin Lewis seems to have never even considered giving the latter anything in terms of an actual challenge to his roster spot.
Nothing bad to say in terms of Harris or Huber. Harris was just a Pro Bowler as a long snapper; you’re probably not improving upon that. Cincinnati was top ten in the NFL in terms of average punt distance, top eight in forcing fair catches, and top five for dropping punts inside the 20; much of this is thanks to Huber’s leg and its ability to accurately pin his opposition.
The Bullock situation is somewhat disturbing, however. To be clear: even if this was an open competition, Bullock probably wins over Brown. He’s done nothing to deserve to lose the job — in fact, his consistency (5-of-6 kicks made for Cincinnati in 2016; 18-of-20 in 2017) is exactly what the team needed after Mike Nugent lost his ability to hit extra points (six PAT misses in 2016 prior to being cut).
Bullock hasn’t been so unassailably good that he deserved to get through this preseason without any competition, though. While he has hit 23-of-26 kicks he’s taken since being brought in two seasons ago, there are some weaknesses inherent to him, namely, his leg strength. There have been times during his tenure with Cincinnati where he clearly wasn’t exactly trusted to try making long field goals (50+ attempts, in this case).
One roster cut each team should make, but won't. dark. Next
Something like that isn’t going to improve with time; if anything, he’ll lose more power. As someone who also wasn’t exactly the most accurate kicker to start his career (missed 18 kicks in his first three seasons), his ability to keep converting at his current level may be tenuous at best. Brown may not have ended up beating him out, but he definitely has the power in his leg (easily made a 55-yard attempt in the preseason; also great at effortlessly forcing touchbacks).
Cincinnati can only hope Lewis’ adamant decision on the matter never comes back to bite them in a season which has playoff-level high hopes (just ask the 2017 Chargers how quickly kicker problems can ruin those dreams).