Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - ROSTER SURPRISES: Bengals Rookies SURVIVE Cutdown Day, Ke'Shawn Williams Wins Return Job

Episode Date: August 30, 2026

The Cincinnati Bengals had tougher decisions to make than usual to get to a 53-man roster, and injuries threw a wrench into things. All of the Bengals' rookies made it, including Landon Robinson and Jack Endries. Plus, there were a few surprises like Ke'Shawn Williams beating out Charlie Jones for WR6 and the returner job, and Brian Parker and Ja'Sir Taylor ending up on IR to make space for Jacob Bayer and Josh Newton. Jake Liscow and Joe Goodberry break down the Bengals' decisions that mostly aligned with their expectations, why the surprises went down the way they did, and what they should be looking at on the waiver wire.  Photo Credit: Eric Hartline Everydayer Club The improved Everydayer Club brings you access to ad-free audio, the Subtext insider club where you can text Jake and Joe and get Bengals updates in your text messages, and Joe Goodberry's members-only Discord with over 1000 other Bengals fans—all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more: https://lockedonbengals.supercast.com/ Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! PrizePicksVisit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code LOCKEDONNFL and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup!KALSHI For a limited time,Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. FanDuel College football Saturdays are already packed with reasons to get excited, and this season, FanDuel is giving fans even more ways to get in on every matchup. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Bengals got through their initial cut down to 53. Kishon Williams, perhaps the biggest surprise beating out Charlie Jones, a kick returner, and all the rookies made it. We're going to break down why it all matters now. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. He's Joe Goodberry.

I'm Jake. let's go today. We're going to discuss the Bengals initial 53-man roster. The 6 p.m. deadline has come and gone. The Bengals have posted their official cuts and official IR moves for a couple of players that caught us by surprise a little bit on Sunday, Joe. And well, we're going to take a look at that all now. And shout out to all of the lockdown Bengals, everydayers, who knew about this, what, about three hours before we recorded the episode when we had enough news that we were able to make a very educated guess that was

100% spot on correct. So for those of you that are the everyday or subscribers, you know that Brian Parker and Jaseer Taylor were headed to IR. We don't know the severity of those injuries exactly yet. Jaseer Taylor believe it's a hamstring. We'll talk about those injuries a little bit as well and what they did to make other guys able to make this roster. What's next? What waiver claims should the Bengals be making? That's something we'll discuss today as well. But I think the biggest surprise today, Joe. The only thing we actually missed, really, in our roster projection, because you can never predict the guys that go to IR, was that we thought Charlie Jones was going to end up

winning this wide receiver six kick returner, punt returner job that ends up being Keishon Millions instead. So we're going to start the show there. This episode brought to the people by Fandul and college football back in action. Plenty of reasons to get excited. Bandil is giving you even more ways to get in on every matchup this season. and check it out at fandville.com. Joe, your thoughts on Keeshawn Williams making the roster here over Charlie Jones.

Very fun. Yeah, a little bit surprising. This is the only thing we really had wrong on our final episode before the roster cutdowns after the final preseason game because we just assumed based on how they were conducting practice, the way preseason continued to go with Charlie Jones being the main returner. And then he had a big return. And he actually contributed on offense in that last preseason game against the Eagles. just by default must be Charlie Jones. But a lot of people and around the Bengals and fans and analysts, we like Keishon Williams.

We like what he did last year. The flashes were very fun. He stepped into the return man. And we really didn't miss a beat with Charlie Jones going down last year. And it was, okay, if he makes it, fine. He had a lot of fans in the building, a lot of fans of Bengals fans. So when he makes it, nobody's upset or mad. It's just, oh, great, fine.

You want to keep turning over this wide receiver room. I think more people were perplexed at Mitch Tinsley being cut, which we kind of hinted at for a while now. It seemed like they weren't really using him. And he really fell behind Dante Myers and Kobe Young. It's just at that point, can you keep another guy unless he's a return man as the sixth wide receiver? And that question was answered with Kishan Williams winning that job.

And honestly, I think looking at the two of them, we can't. talked about it a little bit on the last episode. One guy's a slot guy in Keishon Williams. One guy's a boundary guy. One guy has a little bit more make you miss, a little more lateral agility and explosiveness. Kishon Williams does where I think Charlie Jones has a little more straight line speed. If you block it up perfect for him, he's going to nail it. What Kishon can make a little bit more happen. And I think the Bengals are in a position to go with that guy and maybe go with a little bit more unknown. Charlie Jones with his durability questions makes him always a little bit of a question mark. But Kishon's got a little bit more

unknown for what he can do for you as a return man and on offense. But yeah, I'm excited about this. If this is the only position we're really talking about here, we had a good beat on what was happening on this roster. It's not the only position we're talking about in terms of what the Bengals should be considering to improve their roster, but the only position we're talking about that as we were projecting things in the immediate aftermath of that third preseason game. So those of you that were with us on Friday late midnight when we got that episode posted, give or take. you heard us talk about these decisions. You heard us talk about this kick return or battle.

The one thing that we really got wrong, we didn't get a couple of their names right due to injuries that we didn't know about at the time. We will talk about those, and that's primarily going to be surprise injuries for Brian Parker and Jaseer Taylor. But to wrap up the return man battle here that really determined this, I think last roster spot, essentially the last question we had,

on the roster. The couple things of note here as well that make it interesting. One, I think if Mitch Chensley clears waivers, they want him back on the practice squad. Two, I think Dante Myers will be a backup returner. I think even though we didn't see him do that in the final preseason game, that's part of the toolkit there, just like it was part of the toolkit for Mitch Chinsley. You might not remember this. He had three punt returns for the Bengals last year.

Two of those were fair catches. And so sometimes you just need to put somebody back there to return puns. I don't think there's much of a chance for Charlie Jones to return. I think that he will probably find work elsewhere in the NFL as a returner. Might start on the practice squad elsewhere with a promise to be elevated and eventually promoted to the 53 because that's part of roster gymnastics. But this time of view, you see the Ravens, for example, do this with veterans all the time. They'll put guys on the practice squad for a couple of weeks, put him on the 53 man roster after that. Now, it could be possible.

Wouldn't ever rule it out, but we'll be surprising at this point to see Charlie return. that long speed, though, we'll see if they miss it or not. The last point I wanted to make here, Joe, is that I looked back at their 2025 kick return stats, and they had four different returners, return a lot of kicks. They all average the same exact amount of yards for return. It was all 25 yards for return.

A little bit different than year prior, where Jermaine Burton was a step ahead of some of the other return men that they rolled out there. Isaiah Williams was also quite good as a returner, now plays for the Jets, of course. We've talked about that one. But last year, no matter who they have back to their returning kicks, it was 25 yards a pop or 25 yards and change a pop.

So this might have come down to essentially even Taj Brooks, who made the 53 man roster to some Bengals fans dismay, I know, but we talked about why he made sense to make the roster when Taj Brooks was returning kicks and he might be the second guy back there. He was also at 25 yards of pop. So if they just said, you know what, kick returner is going to be about 25 yards, no matter who it is.

We haven't seen enough to distinguish between these guys. maybe we like Keishon Williams wiggle a little bit more as a punt returner. That didn't necessarily play out statistically when they had both of those guys returning last year. Charlie Jones is still a good punt returner. Don't get me wrong. But perhaps in their minds,

they saw a little bit more from Keishon this year. He's also had a bunch of good practices. The touchdown he scored was also very impressive in that final preseason game. That also had to help his case. You know, this was going to be my argument had Charlie Jones won this job, that kick returning has.

with the new rules has become very standardized. And you can even kick it as the kickoff team to the lesser, less dangerous guy. You can kick it to Smajap, Ryan, or Taj Brooks and say, fine, let them do it. And not to Kishan or Charlie Jones. The punt returning aspect, you know, they tried to kill off kick returning. And then you still get three to eight kick return touchdowns per year. So that I've looked at recently. But the punt return touchdowns have dropped off completely.

And punt returning is the one that got killed off. And it's really just, hey, fair catch it. be a smart return man. Don't do anything stupid out there, right? I don't know if Pac-Man Jones would be the flavor for Darren Simmons now because he's so risky with it. So I think that was going to be my argument. And then when, when Kishan won it, I was like, okay, so they must really trust him to do that part of the job, right? Maybe Pumpt Returning is such a small part of it and kick return is anyone can get you 25 yards at this point. Maybe it really does not matter. And it really turns out to be that Kishon, if we had to say Kishon Williams or Charlie Jones,

who gives you more on offense? And it's small sample sizes for both. But Charlie's almost giving you nothing up through three years, right? I mean, you can remember a couple plays, and half the ones I remember are miscommunication type plays that should have went in Charlie Jones favor and did not. Meanwhile, I can remember Kishan Williams making some nice plays or at least looking elusive and agile out there

and that you can find ways to use them until the emergence of Dante Myers. I was thinking Williams could be that yak guy or give him a screen or give him the jet sweep once in a while. And I thought maybe that Myers made him absolute. And I guess that's not the case. Yeah, now they have multiple guys that can do that job if they need them. Because while Dante Myers was the story of the preseason, he made the roster, by the way. I don't think there was any question about that.

But in case you were curious, and I guess we can tell you everybody who made the roster here at some point as well, we can run that down for you. Just talking about the exciting decisions here because that's really what you're here for is the interesting stuff in the analysis. Anybody can go look at the list on the roster. You'll also know that what we told you yesterday, or Friday, last episode was pretty much correct. But Dante Myers makes a roster probably going to be wide receiver four. He's a little bit of an unknown, right? He's in his first year in the NFL. He's coming from the CFL.

He had a fantastic preseason. Couldn't have done more for himself, obviously. And that's why he's on this team. But you have a little bit of insurance there with Kisham Williams and a little bit of redundancy there if you need it. And I think that's part of the. equation too. They have a number of guys who can play outside. That's essentially all Charlie Jones could do for you if he's needed on offense at this point. They wanted him to develop in the slot. That very quickly became apparent that that wasn't going to be a path for him. So that part of the

decision as well, I think the other thing that's fascinating about this initial 50 through, we got to breathe a little bit of a sigh of relief, Joe, as all the Bengals rookies made it. We'll continue discussing the Bengals initial cut down here coming up next. So more for today's episode of lockdown Bengals comes from Indeed, sponsored jobs. When workplace chaos hits and you're trying to figure out your cut down to 53 or who you need to sign to get to 53 to complete your office. Indeed, sponsored jobs helps connect you with the people that match exactly what you're looking for. The right skills, the right certifications, right location. So you spend less time searching and more time finding the right fit.

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Terms of conditions apply. If you need to hire, this is a job for Indeed, sponsored jobs. Jake, we've kind of buried it a little bit here by talking about the kick return battle, but, you know, they keep six receivers, one of them being Colby Young. So if you were trying to keep it in your head, like, man, who are you've got the top three that we know of.

And then you got Dante Myers, Kobe Young, and you have Keisham Williams. Kobe Young, a part of this rookie class where all guys technically make the roster. We said Brian Parker went to IR. This is a good way to juggle and do a little roster gymnastics as you have to keep some of these newcomers and figure out how to keep all these fringe players, which leads me to Jacob Bayer. I would like to include him in this Dante Meyer's conversation as well. The two of the standouts from preseason and putting, you know, Brian Parker on IR may have got Bayer on the roster or may put Jaylen Rivers on the roster. We're really not sure,

but the offensive line backups were Bayer, Foster, Lou, and Rivers, of course. I almost forgot one there. But yeah, you're pulling up the roster right now. Perfect. So if you're watching on YouTube, you can see the roster as we're trying to digest it and and bring it up. But all of the rookies make it, Jake. This includes Landon Robinson.

This includes Jack injuries. So those day three picks that we were so excited about when the Bengals made them, here they are now on the final roster and expected to contribute, I think, some way at some point this year. Yeah, and the only rookie that technically doesn't make the initial 53, Brian Parker is on that IR. You can see it. I tweeted the play.

You can see that he gets a guy dives into his left leg on one of the last plays of the game is toward the end of the game. It's Kendrell Bullock rushing touchdown. And a play before that, a guy dives into his leg. So unlucky there. Hopefully it's not too severe. It doesn't look like he has a lot of weight on that. that leg when somebody falls into it.

So hopefully it's not a season long kind of thing. There's a lot of optimism to me because he stayed in for the next play, walked off the field after that. So hopefully not too bad. But the rest of the Bengals rookies made it. Talked about Jacob Bayer, Joe, that was a guy that we wanted to see make the team. He did make the team.

We talked about Jack Andrews and the upside there. It was a guy that we wanted to see make the team. He made the team. We talked about Landon Robinson and the pass rush juice in particular for him. And the developmental upside for Landon Robinson. and he made the team as well. So really there are no surprises here. The only differences overall from what we told you about on Friday night

as we went through our projection are that Josh Newton ends up making the team because Jaseer Taylor's on IR. And we weren't exactly sure if it would be a fifth linebacker, if they would keep all of those offensive linemen that you talked about, Joe, to back up the Bayer Rivers. Lou obviously is going to make it foster, but Bayer Rivers Lute. Bayer Rivers Foster.

I'll get there eventually. Bayer Rivers and Foster. We didn't know if that whole trio would make it if they would want to keep a fifth linebacker. So they do make it because of the IR for Brian Parker. They still go four linebackers, which we've been talking about for quite a while at this point, despite many others projecting five linebackers in their...

Wazey-Bosman being the fourth roster projection. And Swayze-Bosman was the guy that we thought had earned that job. We thought that Joe Giles Harris and Orshaka-Hawr could get to the practice squad. and we'll see what linebackers de Bengals bring back to the practice squad. I think that will be interesting as Liam Anderson going to be one of those guys as well. Could they be game day call-ups? And then, yeah, they go heavy at defensive tackle, keeping six to get Landon Robinson on the roster. So you've got 11 guys on the defensive line.

They go a little bit heavy at tight end. They go light at quarterback and light at running back to make that work, where Josh Johnson was cut quite early in the day. We knew that was coming. And Sean Clifford might be a guy they want back on the practice squad. And Taj Brooks ends up being the third running back. I know that there are some Bengals fans out there that after the way the fourth quarter went would have liked to have seen, Jamal Haynes considered for this job.

I think that would have been probably unprecedented for a guy to make the team off the fourth quarter of the final preseason game alone. We did not really see any of him before that. But Brooks will be a special teamer for this team. He will be back there on kick returns at some point if it's not someage P Ryan. And he will be involved in special teams. But that's the spot, Joe, where a waiver claim wouldn't be surprising as well. And I would like to say Taj Brooks seemed to make big progress in pass protection. And that's huge for this team.

They're still going to throw the ball a ton, right? Especially in critical situation. So Tosh Brooks, any running back that they claim, probably going to have to fill that role at some point and have to feel comfortable with him in that role. A couple other points here. One that ended up being a little bit of new. Shamar Stewart avoids injured reserve. So what we talked about the two guys that did land on it for now. Shamar is not amongst them.

They're going to see how he goes over the next two weeks and decide from there. Also, if they claim a guy or two, let's say they put in a claim for an offensive tackle or a linebacker or a running back. You can use your imagination here to fill it in. I could just replace a Taj Brooks or you could create that roster spot by putting Shamar on IR with all of these guys that are going on injury reserve because the rules have changed. Doesn't mean they're out for the season. You can put these guys on IR leading into the 53 man

roster specifically talking about Parker and just here Taylor here and they can come off of iR after four weeks missed so it doesn't mean that these are severe injuries or we're losing parker for the entirety of his rookie season it just as of now they're going to be gone for four weeks and we'll see them hopefully at some point this year yeah so let's quickly just run through the entire 53 in case anybody's listening or or hasn't seen it we put it on the screen for a while i'm just going to read it for those view that aren't watching on YouTube. So a quarterback, as expected, Joe Burrow, Joe Flacco. Running back, Taj Brooks, Chase Brown, Samaj, Perman.

We've talked about why all of these guys make sense, why Taj Brooks sends up making the team there, wouldn't be surprised to see a waiver claim there. We'll talk about where they should be prioritizing waiver claims in a couple of minutes. So wide receiver, as expected, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Andre Yosefuss, Dante, Myers, Colby Young. And then the surprise there, as we discussed, Kishon Williams, wide receiver, six.

A tight end, not a huge surprise, but I'm glad they kept Jack injuries to go along. with Eric Ol, Mike Keseki, Tanner, Hudson, Drew Sample. On the offensive line, the only, I guess, surprise would be that they kept both of the guys competing for swing tackle because they don't have a clear answer there, speaking of potential waiver claims. And Jacob Bayer makes a team. And they'll go along with Connor Lou, who will back up center to start the year.

And then the starters, Orlando Brown, Dylan Fairchild, Ted Carris, Dalton Riser, and Amariusman. So the defensive side of the ball, I think there are no surprises outside of the injury that we talked about earlier. So on the defensive line, we've got Jonathan Allen, B.J. Hill, Cassius Hale, Chris Jenkins, Cedrick Johnson, Dexter Lawrence, Boye, Mafe, Miles Murphy, Landon, Robinson, T.J. Slayton, and Chamar Stewart, everybody you expected. If by now you're becoming numb to the list of names, I apologize. I just want everyone to make sure they know. And then in the secondary, again, as expected, PJ Jules was the one guy maybe in competition here, but he's a special team.

We're behind the primary backup at safety Kyle Dugger, Brian Cook, Jordan, Battle of the starters. at corner, everyone you expect, DJ Ivy, DJ Turner, Dax Hill, Jalen Davis, Tricario Davis, Josh Newton. So there is your full 53, along with the specialist, McPherson, RICO, and Wagner. There you go. I didn't know if you're going to get to the specialist, Jake, so I appreciate that you did. But yeah, it is a strong roster. You can see that, you could feel it, even though it was pretty easy for us to project this. And even if you're watching that episode when we're doing the 53 at the very end, And, you know, if you didn't stay for the third segment there, you can go back.

It's probably still interesting. But we've talked about Newton. We talked about the decision at, you know, Newton as the seventh guy. We talked about offensive line. And could you go to nine? Could you go to 10? This functionally gets them to 10 and allows them to keep these fringe guys that I think could have had some interest around the league.

Two guys they cut that I heard there was some interest. McKinley Jackson, who was released former third round pick. And Cam Grandy, surprising, what, blocking tight ends. are a premium. We see these guys get traded and swapped all throughout the league and get bigger contracts than expected. Grand is a guy. I think they would love to have back on the practice squad. Let's talk a little bit more about McKinley Jackson because Ian Rappaphor also reported some trade interest there. And then we'll talk about the waiver claims that the Bengals should be exploring to finish this show coming up next.

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there are plenty of opportunities to follow the games and find new ways to get involved. I don't have a favorite team, Jake. I never went to college. Like I have no association with any of this. I just watch for the players and the evaluation. But with the Fandul app and all the different ways you can get interested in these games, it makes it more exciting for me. But the whole slate, Saturdays are a blast in the fall because of college football, because of Fandual.

And you can get started today by visiting Fandul.com. Joe, we told our subscribers, the Lockdown Bengals Insiders. You can check that out, by the way, if you're interested in joining at Lockdown Bengals. at supercast.com where you'll get text messages directly from Joe and I. You'll get access to a Discord. You'll get ad-free audio episodes.

If you really don't want to listen to those ads, that's an option for you, too. You mentioned that to me that there are some potential trade interests. And we talked about it after the news came out that McKinley was cut, but it was going to be waived. Ian Raffer said there was interest for a little bit of time in McKinley, Jackson. And so why doesn't that trade get done, I think is a natural question for people. If there's interest around the league, how do you not get a deal with them? Because Jackson in particular doesn't seem like a guy they're going to want back on the practice squad. Howard Cross also waived, also had a good preseason, a guy that they probably do want back on the practice squad by contrast.

But McKinley Jackson seems like it was kind of going the way of Billy Price at a much lower level, a much smaller level, like just wear out as well. welcome was in the doghouse a little bit last year. So why in your mind don't those deals get done if there was interest for potentially a few days as Rafferpour seemed to indicate? Yeah, and I can confirm that more than a few days. So what I heard was that things just didn't move as rapidly as either side would have liked in any of these conversations and other defensive tackles were moved. So I could go back and look at those trades and we can probably assume that some of those teams were talking to the Bengals about McKinley Jackson and teams found their depth that way. But also, I think this is my opinion now, once other defensive tackles,

like Rayshon Benny, who was a seventh round pick, I want to say, start to get released around the league. And you see some of these guys that maybe are equivalent or other teams maybe had high opinions on. You go, you know, I don't know that we have to give up a seventh round pick for McKinley Jackson. We can find an equivalent player or somebody that we also really liked in the draft process through the waiver or free agency. And I think that's just how it tends to go. You either strike early and get on it like some of these teams did make these trades three, four, five days ago or you kind of get to the end and teams go, we'll call your bluff.

We think you'll cut them and we'll put in a claim. Quite a few trades today. I found myself personally a little bit frustrated with these guys. We're going to get cut by the Steelers, going to get cut by the Ravens. They find trade partners for multiple players each pick up late round draft picks for sure, but draft picks nonetheless. And we just saw what excitement can be generated from late round draft picks with Brian Parker, Landon, Robinson, Jack, injuries, having such nice preseason for the Bengals

in a draft that, generally speaking, does not look like it had a very good day three. Kudos to the Bengals for finding some pieces on day three. So a little bit of frustration. Another example, though, on the Cam Grandy thing I mentioned, where if someone's going to give you a, for example, let's say I'm looking right in the camera, for example, a 2028, seventh round pick for Cam Grandy. Or you think you can get them back on your practice school? I think the Bengals would like to have

Grandy on their practice squad and could eventually use them this season because they do really like it. Yeah, that's one where you have to weigh, well, are they actually going to claim this guy? Right. How serious are you if you're talking about a future seven-th-th-round? You have to kick someone off your roster if you're going to claim them.

Right. So we'll see if anything happens with Grandy. We'll see if anyone's claim. Charlie Jones, certainly somebody to watch Mitch Tinsley, I think also someone to watch Bengals, apparently didn't find trade partners for anyone, those guys included. And that's a bit of a shame.

would have liked to have seen them be able to recoup something. You never want to hear the idea that, yeah, like they had offers four days ago and they didn't take one. Just take an offer, guys. Let's just get something. So if that's what happens, that's one thing. Spare to be critical. We don't know that's what happened, however, I would say.

And that's equally possible that the Bengals just didn't get an offer. Maybe they shop these guys and didn't really have an offer. And they were trying to find something decent out there. Talks don't mean offer, right? It just may, it might be talks. Yeah, might discuss like, oh, yeah, you guys, guys interested in Cam Grady? Yeah, we're maybe interested. We'll get back to you.

And then it doesn't go anywhere. And that could have happened here as well. But that being said, Joe, we've seen some of the players waived around the league. We recorded this as soon as things got official at 6 p.m. We hopped in here to record. So don't know all the players that have been released around the league, but some positions that we think they should be looking at are kind of the same as they were before cut down. nothing really changes in that capacity.

No player for player trade gave us an answer at swing tackle or running back three, where we talked about why Tosh Brooks made the roster, but they can still stand to bringing competition or improvement more likely at that spot. And swing tackle, they keep Rivers and Foster probably means that competition is ongoing if they don't bring somebody else in for the last two weeks here before the regular season. Yeah, guys like Jedrick Wills that were cut, right? Could they have some interest there at, swing tackle. There's connections with Scott Peters, who I believe was there when he was

drafted, right, as the assistant O'Line coach. Could there be interested in that as a swing tackle upgrade? Maybe, you know what I found interesting also with the cuts around the league, Jake, this wasn't your point bringing up, but I think some Bengals fans maybe felt this as well. When guys like Gino Stone and Lucas Patrick and Cordell Volson, and the list goes on, there were more guys than that, not just the players that were cut from this year's roster that were part of the last couple seasons, you know, guys like Charlie Jones and Mitchell Tinsley, who we like Mitch Tensley, but it's, you know, Cam Grandy, McKinley Jackson, list goes on. There are a lot of guys that the Bengals relied on over the last couple years that were released today. And this isn't

some victory lap. This isn't some weird like, oh, look, we knew they sucked. I mean, they were, we knew what it was when we were watching these games, right? Especially like a case of Geno Stone. I think this goes to show how much they upgraded the depth. Like when I'm looking at the 1 through 53 and there's a bunch of guys I want on the Spengles practice squad, like Noah Thomas, for example, Cam Grandy. I would like him on the practice squad. Isaiah Foskey, I thought he had a great camp. If he doesn't end up in other teams roster, please come on back to the practice squad.

When I look at this, I look at this and say, man, they really upgraded their roster this year. Kudos to them, not just the draft picks all pretty much effectively making it, but the Bayers and the Dante Myers. the guys that, you know, anyone could have picked up at any point. And you guys did. It's good job because this roster feels a lot stronger. And the Swayzee Bozeman waiver claim. Like, he looked great in the preseason.

That was a waiver claim in May. Those guys usually aren't guys. But we talked about it at the time. You go back and look at our episode. It was something like Bengals ad linebacker. And I think people were mad at us. We framed it that way. And now he's on the team, one of the four, just four linebackers that the Bengals keep.

then that's also indicative of the shift in personnel that we've been talking about this preseason. They're going to put more defensive linemen on the field. There's no real need for them to have incredibly deep linebacker room because the amount of times you're going to put three actual offball linebackers off on the field. It's going to be diminished this year. You're going to see guys dropping the coverage out of that edge spot, Boyle, Cassius Howell. We saw Isaiah Foskey do it a ton, speaking of Isaiah Foskey, which is probably a sign of things to come for this team. but obvious waiver priority is offensive tackle three.

If there's anyone out there that's interesting. But I agree with you, Joe, the improvements that they made to the roster overall that got them to the point that we're talking about here today, pretty significant. And the fact that we were talking about guys is trade prospects this year felt like a trade was likelier than normal because of the perceived improvement.

And now we get to start shifting and talking about, well, move isn't happening at linebacker. They're going with Demetrius and Barrett Carter. As we've known all preseason, but now the focus once again will be on those guys. And we're not going to be talking as much about these backups and depth spots where, you know, can you question if they did enough at slot corner where now is not just here Taylor. It's going to be Jalen Davis and Josh Newton, presumably, in the slot to start this year. And is that enough? Is that how you want your roster to be configured right now? I think that there's the potential to make a move at slot corner as well.

I think Josh Newton was very much a bubble player, a guy they like and have liked his attitude, but I think still very much a bubble player. So those are some spots that I think you got to be thinking about for the Bengals to. And that will also, when we get word of it, the practice squad, you know,

when that's usually a Monday type thing as they have that practice, I believe on Monday and we'll get an idea of them. They don't this year. So it's weird this year. I practiced today and media weren't there. That's right. And they're off Monday. They're going to their regular practice schedule.

So they practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday this week. Zach will talk on Tuesday this week. So we might not know unless the Bengals announce it or agents announce it. What exactly the Bengals practice squad looks like until Tuesday. A lot of times on Monday, yeah, you can see if the players there or not. And that will not be the case this year. My point was going to be that we usually get an extra guy. That's how we got like Kendall Milton, you know,

off of someone else's. waves that they don't claim. So we'll get the claims on Monday. If there are any, we'll know who we lost, like McKinley Jackson gets claimed by another team. That also may show the depth of this roster if a few guys do get claimed, which is possible for sure. And then the practice squad, what I was going to say is, I wouldn't be shocked if three, you're going to have 16, or if I remember correctly now on the practice flight, if three of them are linebackers, if you get the Liam Andersons, if you get the shock of Haywards, the Joe Giles Harris, hey, Eric Gentry, like there was plenty of guys they could put on this practice.

squad and keep developing. But if they were elevating those guys from the practice squad and rotated through it to help fill and flush out that special teams room as injuries happen, I could see them handling it that way. That's why four linebackers always made a ton of sense to me because they'd have enough guys that I don't think are going to get claimed. And they have other guys to play those special teams roles. They want the insurance for injury, sure. But if you have better players to keep on your roster with roster spots, it's good that the Bengals said that this year. I think that's one of the bottom lines to me, Joe,

is they made decisions to keep the best players they could on this team. I don't think there's a move that we can really on face disagree with. You might disagree with Charlie Jones versus Kishan Williams. And you can make an argument either way there is my point. You can make an argument for Mitch Stensley or for Kishan Williams. Like there's no glaringly obvious. They kept that guy because they needed somebody at that position and a better player got cut elsewhere. At least that's how I feel.

Or like they drafted this guy. so he's, he's got pictures of Zach Taylor, right? There's always like that phrase or that joke. There's none of those this year. It doesn't feel like it at all. And it feels like the guys have performed well in the preseason, made the team, and there could so be moves to be made, right? That's what we always caution people this time of year.

The initial 53 is indeed an initial 53, and there could be changes that follow. We'll see if any changes follow. If they do, we'll have it covered right here on lockdown Bengals on Monday. We're going to be keeping our eye on the waiver wire. I believe it's actually quite early the day after cut so they can get guys into buildings. But could be wrong about that. Keep an eye on social media.

We'll go do some research here and figure out exactly when that cut down or that waiver is processed on Monday. I'm pretty sure this is a one day of the year that it's not at 4 p.m. But we'll have you covered regardless here on Locked-on Bengals. Until next time, thanks for listening to this episode. of the lockdown Bengals podcast. Ho today. Have a good.