CINCINNATI -- Before you know it, training camp will be here for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Once it arrives, players will begin, in earnest, their respective pushes for making the 53-man roster. Many will be cut. Some will end up with practice-squad spots. Somewhere along the way, drafted and undrafted rookies will be in the middle of some of the more intense position battles, either getting rewarded for their efforts or swallowed up as late August casualties.
As we begin this pre-minicamp week mailbag, we attempt to figure out which of those rookies will survive when the competition is all said and done.
Without the luxury of Training camp yet,how many of drafted &undrafted rooks make final 53 & which ones? I say 9. https://t.co/B6cXDQJ8JQ
— Cbraines1976 (@cbraines1976) June 12, 2015@ColeyHarvey. Thanks for the question, Cbraines. I'm curious to know which nine rookies the Bengals end up keeping on the 53-man roster. You might just be right about that number. As for my thoughts on the matter, I'm going with eight for now. The main reason is because I'm not including first-round pick Cedric Ogbuehi in that conversation. Although his rehab from a torn ACL will continue through the summer, at the moment it doesn't appear he'll be ready to start the season with the team. That's fine. With depth at offensive tackle, the Bengals won't be hurting if they are forced to put Ogbuehi on the physically unable to perform list or under some other injury designation to begin the year.
So taking Ogbuehi off the table, that leaves each of the other eight draft picks. Based on the little we've seen during rookie camp and organized team activities, each of the picks has shown real potential. Not all seventh-rounders make it through camp, but Mario Alford, this year's seventh-round pick, looks like a real lock to make the team based off his speed and special-teams versatility. As for the undrafted rookies, Erick Dargan, Floyd Raven and Chris Jasperse are names to watch. The Bengals' roster-wide depth makes it doubtful any undrafted rookies make this year's 53-man roster, but it's certainly possible.
@ColeyHarvey do we see McCarron start next year for the Bengals?
— Matt Callahan (@rowdical1928) June 12, 2015@ColeyHarvey. Matt, it's hard seeing AJ McCarron starting at quarterback for the Bengals in the next two years. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it: The Bengals have full faith in Andy Dalton. Maybe they're blindly hitching their hopes onto Dalton's shoulders, but they believe he still gives them the best chance to win. After all, when he's been good in his career, he's been very good. When he hasn't played well, his performances have been downright pitiful. Still, when they look at him, the Bengals see the very good version of Dalton. As a result, they aren't planning to make a change at quarterback unless he completely tanks this season. Sure, his contract is set up in a way that can allow the Bengals to move on comparatively easily after this season, but that doesn't mean Cincinnati's front office will be looking for a change at the position.
Don't get me wrong, at times during OTAs, McCarron looked quite strong, making sound decisions and completing nice passes to his wideouts and tight ends. But he's still a backup, and he still had his share of youthful mistakes. If the Bengals didn't surround Dalton the last few years with the rushing and receiving weapons he currently has, maybe he'd be in a little more jeopardy of losing his starting job. But the thing is, he has A.J. Green and Jeremy Hill. He's getting Marvin Jones and Tyler Eifert back. In short, he has no reason to play poorly enough this year that the Bengals will shuffle their quarterback depth chart.
@ColeyHarvey with so many free agents and depth at cb and ot--it would be smart to trade Andre/Whit/Dre/Denmark/hall and get a stud LB-thot?
— Greg Margolis (@gmargolis6) June 12, 2015@ColeyHarvey. A point of clarification that Greg was quick to make on Twitter, "Denmark" is a typo. He was referring to Darqueze Dennard. Now, as for a trade, I can see why you inquire, but it's doubtful one takes shape. Perhaps veteran offensive tackle Andre Smith would make enticing trade bait, but first remember the team you're asking about. Trades aren't in the Bengals' regular bag of tricks, and they certainly aren't this late in the year without any viable cause.
As they do with free agency, these Bengals view trades rather distastefully. They feel that adding new players from the outside at key spots threatens team and position chemistry. It simply takes too long to get new additions up to speed with their way of doing things, they feel. That's why you'll see them make additions at high value spots during free agency, but not typically this late in the year. (Yes, unless your name is Carson Palmer and you have a fractured relationship with people in the front office who are convinced it's time to go in a different direction anyway.) The Bengals are tied to Smith, Andrew Whitworth, Dre Kirkpatrick, Darqueze Dennard and Leon Hall, and they are convinced A.J. Hawk's free-agency addition, Rey Maualuga's return, and Vontaze Burfict's recovery will be enough to get the linebacker group playing better than it did a year ago.
