Cincy Jungle
The final 53-man roster cutdown is coming up Tuesday. The Bengals are currently sitting at a normal training camp roster, which unfortunately means three dozen guys will walk away from training camp with nothing except a good learning experience.
While most of these players are fully prepared to walk away with just that, others might be shocked, and others are trying to prove to their teammates, coaches, and organization that they fully deserve a spot on the roster.
If you look at the roster, it falls into an almost tier-like system. You have your top tier of players, such as Joe Burrow, Ted Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase, and others, who have a 0% chance of being cut.
Then you have your middle tier of players, such as Marco Wilson, who have provided solid work, just haven’t quite got enough time to fully prove themselves, but when their time comes, they take advantage. The next tier is the fun one. These guys fully believe they deserve a chance to make the squad, and they have worked their tails off for it, guys like Mitchell Tinsley, who you saw show out in the last preseason game.
Here comes the battle!
Mitchell Tinsley, Cole Burgess, Devin Cochran, Andrew Coker, Joe Giles-Harris, PJ Jules, among others, are out to prove their worth.
But there are always two sides. Those guys are fighting to get on the roster, while others like Cam Grandy, Tanner Hudson, Shaka Heyward, Charlie Jones, Jermaine Burton, and Jaxson Kirkland are fighting to keep their spots. Some more than others, but still fighting. To these lower-tier guys, nothing is given to them, or at least shouldn’t be, and they definitely shouldn’t expect it to be.
Between the stacked depth chart and injuries, some of these guys may expect to make the team and get cut. You can’t keep 15 (exaggeration) tight ends, and even if you are a great player, if you’re always injured, why would the team keep paying you if you aren’t going to play?
Like I said, this is the fun part. Not so fun for the guys walking away, but more so for the guys who are proving the old saying, you have to work for what you get.
August 26 is the day final cuts must be made. Here are 10 Bengals who are fighting for their roster lives in the coming days.
Jermaine Burton – This may seem laughable to some, but why? He hasn’t given this anything besides a headache in his rookie season, and a couple of decent plays. Most likely, he stays, but what’s keeping the team from cutting ties? Burton still needs to prove he’s deserving of a roster spot.
Mitchell Tinsley – Vice versa for Tinsley. What’s keeping the Bengals from keeping Tinsley, who has proven respectability from his teammates and coaches and consistently made plays in practice and games? The good news is the Bengals will probably keep six wide receivers, the fifth and sixth being Burton and Tinsley. But...
