It is a badly-kept secret the Cincinnati Bengals will keep an eye on the waiver wire and potentially the trade market too as they cut the roster down to 53 players over the weekend.
The coaching staff has consistently hinted at it, with Zac Taylor again telling the media Thursday night “we’ll leave all of our options open” and “they’ve done a great job already this last week, so we’ll see where it goes.”
Two obvious problem areas stick out: linebacker and cornerback.
At linebacker, the Bengals already cut Curtis Akins and Sterling Sheffield. Rookie Deshaun Davis mostly struggled to adapt, Hardy Nickerson is still mostly only a presence on special teams and on top of still flashing little of the upside he was tapped as having, Malik Jefferson missed the preseason finale.
At cornerback, Dre Kirkpatrick and William Jackson both had minor injuries this summer and Darqueze Dennard looks headed for the PUP, creating a depth problem. KeiVarae Russell still hasn’t played despite getting healthy, Davontae Harris and Tony McRae have mostly struggled and Darius Phillips is safe.
One could make an argument for offensive line too. But unless Cordy Glenn doesn’t get out of concussion protocol soon, they have two starting tackles and a swing backup (Andre Smith), as well as John Jerry getting reps at both edges this preseason. Alex Redmond is back after four games and Jonah Williams sounds headed to the PUP, so they might try to get by with what they have. If NFL teams were actually letting quality offensive linemen walk, this might be a different discussion, but the Bengals are far from along in their issues in the trenches.
Given the excess of talent at positions along the defensive line and at wide receiver, for starters, Bengals brass might be content to ship away players there to address these depth concerns along the defense.
At the least, it’s something to keep in mind as the Bengals roll out their final cuts, which we’ll have a running tracker with analysis for as the weekend continues.
