Cincinnati Bengals: What to watch for during Super Bowl 53

The Possible Roster Cuts From Each Team

This is sort of an addendum to the free agents, in a sense. Every team has players under contract now who will end up cut at some point in the offseason, granting them free agent status. These free agents are a special breed, however. Unlike a regular free agent, someone who got there through being cut comes with the bonus of not counting in the calculations which determine compensatory draft picks for teams.

This is particularly important for a team like Cincinnati. While a new head coach and major shift in franchise direction could open up the wallet of teams, Cincinnati seems likely to be on the cheap end of the equation. This of course would fall in line with how they’ve always been since owner Mike Brown took control in the early 1990s (he’s more than earned the designation of “cheap”), but it also makes since due to this team probably being in the earliest stages of a full-on rebuild.

A brand new coach (one who is young and seems likely to be given all the time he needs to build a winner), a bunch of aging veterans, and (perhaps most importantly) no true franchise signal-caller under center (Dalton’s fine in the right situation, but not exactly a guy who can carry teams to championships) means the team will likely lean as heavily as ever into the draft — and that means accumulating as many young draftees as possible.

The Bengals will need to grab some level of free agents though, and going after roster cut players lets them have the best of both worlds: short-term pickups and long-term assets.

Both the Patriots and Rams have a few guys who may get cut and are worth targeting.

The Rams have some intriguing possibilities to consider. Michael Brockers has been outshone over the years, but if he gets back to playing in a defense which let’s him play as a tackle more often (rather than a 3-4 end, which Wade Phillips has had him play) he could be a great complementary piece at the right price (definitely less than the $10+ million he counted against the cap this year).

Mark Barron is expensive and could be cut to make room for other major moves. Meanwhile, Cincinnati needs to completely revamp their linebacker corps, so he could easily be part of the equation. Aqib Talib would leave zero dead money (and open up $8 million) on the Rams’ cap. He had a rough year in terms of health and effectiveness, but he could be a worthwhile gamble as a possible replacement for Dre Kirkpatrick (who himself could — and probably should — be cut).

New England’s names aren’t exciting, but they could be savvy. Adrian Clayborn would fit right in with Cincinnati’s history this decade of having defensive ends who are more effective as run defenders than pass rushers. Nate Ebner would provide safety depth and special teams prowess to further strengthen a couple of Cincinnati’s stronger areas. Bringing back Rex Burkhead for cheap would be a decent move for depth behind Joe Mixon.

The Super Bowl will be a last chance for them to prove themselves, not only to their current teams in the pursuit of a championship, but also to the franchises who could soon become their next employers. Any of those names (and others) could end up proving vital in the early stages of where the Cincinnati Bengals go from here.