Today was the day that Bengals had to get down to 75. As you know, I already posted the other cuts or roster moves on a previous post, but they still had to drop down one man by today. The news is in, and the man of the hour is WR Kashif Moore. He was basically irrelevant to the other things going on and competition with that position, so it made sense. The team has more cuts to endure this week. They have to be down to the 53 man final roster by this Friday the 31st. Then starts the 1 day to claim men that have been waived if the 8 man practice squad has not been decided at that time.
With Friday looming and with the amount of positions so deep with talent on the roster or filled with injuries, like in the DB area, the cuts and roster moves could be interesting. In one of Marvin's previous press conferences he said that a lot of the injured guys that were close, really stepped their game up to be able to be ready to play by Thursday against the Colts. However, I think, Lewis will still keep some of them out for that game just to make sure they are 100% healthy for the season opener on the 10th in Baltimore. Some notable guys still out, that may be ready for Thursday, but are definitely going to be ready for the regular season are:
Manny Lawson, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Jermaine Greshman, Rey Maualuga, and Robert Geathers.
Here are some roster notes that I have gathered from my own personal views or some other sites:
The Safeties look like a lot more impressive than I think any of us thought. Marvin and Zimmer keep praising them. It looks as though, they are thinking about mixing Taylor Mays with Jeromy Miles and match them with Nate Clements. The only note here, is that hopefully, Mays concentrates on hurting the other teams and not us. He and Jeromy have really showed up this offseason and during camps. I am looking forward to see this combination out there on the game day.
Leon Hall, coming back from Achilles surgery, has looked good at the cornerback spot and kept up really well with the Packers WR corp. Mix that with Reggie Nelson, and this backfield could be dangerous and one to watch. So, according to Bengals.com, this is what the backfield could look like on a roster, with the guys that we have left before cuts:
Left CB: Clements, Newman, Kirkpatrick, Heath
Right CB: Hall, Allen, Jones, Lewis-Harris
SS: Mays, Miles, Dye (Sands is on IR)
FS: Nelson, Iloka (Iloka has looked good, but Clements has speed, so who knows if he makes it)
Sticking with Defense...We have a lot of injuries here that we need to recover from. Here, with the injured guys listed, seem to be how the roster is forming from watching practice and games:
DE (Left): Dunlap, Geathers, Micah Johnson - This group is plagued with injuries. Hopefully Geathers and Dunlap will find their way back for the season opener. Johnson did have a good game against the Packers, so if nothing else, he does seem practice squad worthy.
NT: Peko, Sims, Thompson - This is per Bengals.com. I still think Sims is going to be placed on waivers at the end of the week. If not, and I am wrong (which is very possible), he will be placed on the PUP list on the roster which will still make him ineligible for 6 weeks.
DT: Atkins, Still, Hayden, Meatoga
DE (Right): Michael Johnson, Jamaal Anderson, DeQuin Evans
SAM LB: Lawson, Skuta, Moch
MLB: Maualuga, Muckelroy, Burfict
WILL LB: Howard, Rey, Lamur, Hunter - I don't see Lamur or Hunter getting past this Friday.
Now for Special Teams chat. These spots are fairly obvious:
K - Nugent
P - Huber
LS - Harris, Davis
PR - Tate, Hawkins, Jones, M. Jones - My thought is after seeing what we saw during the Packers game that they may rotate Tate and Hawkins until PacMan is completely healthy and this could be his again. He looked really good in camp on PR and Hawkins just didn't really excel at this. I think he is too small or just doesn't make good decisions. At first, I thought he just could get away because punts are much faster with the other team getting to you easier, but then when he called fair catch and then let the ball fall and roll to him, I was more worried about skill.
KR: Tate, Hawkins, Jones, M. Jones - Think this will be Tate again and maybe a Hawkins rotation.
Moving onto Offense...we have all seen my thoughts on the Green Bay loss and my fear for the season, so I won't make too many notes here. I will say though, that these are going to be tougher cuts come Friday, because the WR have really shown up this camp and we are stacked. Hopefully we can use them effectively and they stay hungry.
With that said, we will start with the line. This is a place, we need obvious improvement. They aren't protecting Andy and they are the first line of defense for the flailing running game.
LT: Whitworth, Collins - Collins has been playing multiple positions; we are very sturdy here
LG: Boling, Robinson
C: Cook, Stephens
RG: Zietler, Hudson - Hudson might has well be non-existent here
RT: Smith, Roland, O'Donnell
Now the ball movers:
TE: Gresham, Lee, Cochart, Charles - Before preseason and camp started, there were a lot of rumors of Lee not making the Roster. He has really silenced those people and shown up this summer. Cochart cannot block and Charles is a rookie that I think can be developed into something great. Now we just need Jermaine to get back out there from his injury. Having Gresham back would really be helpful in the blocking game to help those runners.
RB: Green-Ellis, Scott, Leonard, Peerman, Herron, Brooks - Leonard and Peerman do well on special teams, so they are pretty safe. Unfortunately, Herron just hasn't had enough time to develop with early injuries and now a slow start. Brooks is probably gone on Friday for sure.
FB: Pressley, Develin - Chris is our guy
QB: Dalton, Gradkowski, Robinson - With Hansen's cut, Robinson will go to the practice squad and Andy and Bruce will be our guys on Sunday.
Finally, the most talked about position battle of the season...
WR: Green, Tate, Hawkins, Binns, Whalen, Sanu, Jones, Hazelton, Hilton - It's possible one of these guys could be traded. Whalen has looked better this year and he is very coachable. He won't survive the waivers on Friday, but is this our guy? I think Hilton will go to the practice squad and I am unsure how they view Hazelton. He seems to get a lot of reps at camp, but in the games, he isn't as solid. I think the top 6, at the end of the day, look more like this:
Green, Tate, Binns, Hawkins, Sanu, and Jones - Obviously Jones and Sanu look really good. Sanu has great hands and ability. Jones can go deep and get the ball, but so can Binns and he has been a real stand out and he has great size. Same thing with Tate. In fact, I remember when the Patriots drafted him. It was for that reason, he is speedy and elusive. Not to mention, he had a great catch and effort to keep his feet in last Thursday against the Packers. I really like this guy.
I am really excited to see these guys continue to battle to make this 53 man roster on Thursday against Luck. It looks like Andy may only be in for a series. Hopefully, everyone else will step up and we can see these guys scrap out a win. With the cuts due in on Friday at 9:00pm, I will blog final rosters and cuts, as I get them. I am very curious and excited to meet my new, official Cincinnati Bengals!
Then, the next tough decision...what jersey should I get?? Who Dey!
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