The Cincinnati Bengals have made a number of moves in recent days to address a linebacker spot suffering multiple setbacks.
Cincinnati claimed one linebacker on waivers and hosted two others on tryouts. Akeem Davis-Gaither is on injured reserve and seeking the help of a foot specialist, while Jordan Evans is also on IR and Markus Bailey is on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
But if push comes to shove and the team is short a ‘backer or two coming out of the bye, special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons has made it clear he has plenty of confidence in practice squad linebacker Keandre Jones, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“Keandre is a guy who’s been around here and if we go with him I’m sure he’ll be fine. He and Akeem are close to each other athletically from a size standpoint, so if we go with Keandre, we go with Keandre. If that person’s not here yet, that’s still an option for us too.”
Jones, undrafted out of Maryland in 2020, initially signed with the Bears that year before joining Cincinnati’s practice squad and got promoted to the active roster for the final two games of the season.
Draft writeups likened Jones to a bigger safety and liked his speed, so it’s no wonder the Bengals have kept him around to develop. If necessary, he’ll surely get called up and have a role on special teams with the active roster.
