53 Roster Projection

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I understand there will be changes but have no idea why you have 3 TE on PS when they have 4 on 53 roster.

The Cincinnati Bengals have signed nine players to their 2019 practice squad.

While there will undoubtedly be more moves made soon, especially with two vacancies, here is what the initial squad looks like:

TE Moritz Böhringer (first-year player, Aalen [Germany])
CB Anthony Chesley (rookie, Coastal Carolina)
LB Noah Dawkins (rookie, The Citadel)
HB Jordan Ellis (rookie, Virginia)
TE Jordan Franks (second-year player, Central Florida)
S Trayvon Henderson (second-year player, Hawaii)
WR Stanley Morgan (rookie, Nebraska)
TE Mason Schreck (third-year player, Buffalo)
G Keaton Sutherland (rookie, Texas A&M)

All of the players signed to the Bengals’ practice squad today were with the team in preseason.

An NFL practice squad may include up to 10 players, though the Bengals may have up to 11 with TE Mortiz Böhringer, who is an International Player Pathway program participant and is eligible to be added as an 11th practice squad player. Thus, the Bengals currently have two open practice squad spots.

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Bengals waive Josh Malone and Hardy Nickerson to make room for two new players. I don't recall a team ever only have 4 LB on team. But as we have said the Bengals LB are trash so why keep that many around.

The Bengals have announced two additions and two subtractions from their 53-man roster.

On Sunday, the team claimed wide receiver Pharoh Cooper off waivers from the Cardinals and running back Samaje Perine off waivers from Washington.

To make room for those two, the Bengals waived wide receiver Josh Malone and linebacker Hardy Nickerson.

Letting Nickerson go was an easy call, as he simply isn’t good enough to play linebacker in the NFL, even for a Bengals defense that now has just four linebackers on the 53-man roster.

Nickerson joined the Bengals in 2017 as an undrafted free agent. His ties to Marvin Lewis, who was the head coach at the time, were obvious as Nickerson’s father, Hardy Nickerson Sr., was coached by Lewis when both spent time in Pittsburgh during the 90’s. You can imagine the connection made getting Nickerson to join Cincinnati was an easy one.

During his time with the Bengals, Nickerson was often dropped down to the practice squad and activated to the 53-man roster pretty frequently. He did end up starting two games in 2017 and seven games in 2018.

He never really looked the part of a reliable inside linebacker. He was often burned in the passing game. He actually had started two games early in 2018 while Burfict was suspended, and then when Lewis took over as the defensive coordinator he was named the starter again for a single game. Then he started the final four games, but at that point injuries forced Cincinnati’s hand.

Nickerson’s career stats with the Bengals includes 71 combined tackles, a tackle for a loss, two passes defended and a forced fumble. The Bengals are now left with linebackers Nick Vigil, Preston Brown, Germaine Pratt and Jordan Evans.

While this was no real surprise, cutting Malone for Cooper was a surprising move. Cooper hasn’t done anything to suggest he’s a better player than Malone. However, Cooper is a solid returner on special teams, so the Bengals must have wanted another returner man on their 53-man roster.

Zac Taylor also spent two seasons with Cooper during their time with the Rams. If there’s anything that Taylor has taught us in Year 1, it’s that he greatly values familiarity.

As for the new guys, Cooper (5-11, 207), is a fourth-year player out of University of South Carolina who was originally was a fourth-round draft pick of the Rams in 2016. He spent the majority of his first three NFL seasons with the Rams before ending last season with the Cardinals. He has played in 33 career games (four starts), and has 25 catches for 190 yards. He was waived by the Cardinals yesterday.

Perine (5-11, 240), is a third-year player from the University of Oklahoma. In 21 career games (eight starts) for Washington, he rushed for 635 yards and a TD on 183 carries, and he caught 25 passes for 187 yards and another score. He also was waived yesterday.

[Mag]

I understand there will be changes but have no idea why you have 3 TE on PS when they have 4 on 53 roster.

The Cincinnati Bengals have signed nine players to their 2019 practice squad.

While there will undoubtedly be more moves made soon, especially with two vacancies, here is what the initial squad looks like:

TE Moritz Böhringer (first-year player, Aalen [Germany])
CB Anthony Chesley (rookie, Coastal Carolina)
LB Noah Dawkins (rookie, The Citadel)
HB Jordan Ellis (rookie, Virginia)
TE Jordan Franks (second-year player, Central Florida)
S Trayvon Henderson (second-year player, Hawaii)
WR Stanley Morgan (rookie, Nebraska)
TE Mason Schreck (third-year player, Buffalo)
G Keaton Sutherland (rookie, Texas A&M)

All of the players signed to the Bengals’ practice squad today were with the team in preseason.

An NFL practice squad may include up to 10 players, though the Bengals may have up to 11 with TE Mortiz Böhringer, who is an International Player Pathway program participant and is eligible to be added as an 11th practice squad player. Thus, the Bengals currently have two open practice squad spots.

3 TEs on PS does seem a bit much, especially with 4 on the 53. Perhaps they're hedging their bets with Eiferts history. Perhaps we're also going to see a lot of two TE sets to mitigate our O Line issues.

[stripesincarolina]

You simply cant run with 4 LBs. Not feasible in any defensive scheme. The rotation doesnt work. And with 1 on the field your CBs will get dinged up making too many tackles and likely wont tackle, and your Dlineman are likely too slow to cover any TEs or RBs . I dont know what kind of scorcery Lou and Zac are dialing up in the basement of PBS, but the potion better work. (And Germain Pratt better be the second coming of Lawrence Taylor)

[Mag]

You simply cant run with 4 LBs. Not feasible in any defensive scheme. The rotation doesnt work. And with 1 on the field your CBs will get dinged up making too many tackles and likely wont tackle, and your Dlineman are likely too slow to cover any TEs or RBs . I dont know what kind of scorcery Lou and Zac are dialing up in the basement of PBS, but the potion better work. (And Germain Pratt better be the second coming of Lawrence Taylor)

The vast majority of defenses run with 2 LBs at a time, so one could easily get away with 4. I also expect to see both Williams and Fej play in the box as extra LBs.

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With Glenn dealing with concussion and may not play need to have a healthy experience OL back-up.

Several teams dropped veterans from their rosters this weekend with the intention of bringing them back after making other roster moves.

The Bengals were one of those teams and they pulled off such a move with guard John Jerry. Jerry was released on Saturday as the team dropped to 53 players, but he’s already back on the roster.

The Bengals announced Jerry’s return along with tackle O'Shea Dugas‘s trip to injured reserve. Dugas signed with the team as an undrafted free agent and waiting until after cutdown day to put him on injured reserve allows the team to bring him back later in the year if so desired.

Jerry started 56 games for the Giants from 2014-2017, but was out of the league after being released last September. He joins Andre Smith and Billy Price as reserve linemen in Cincinnati.