Bengals 2025 Roster Breakdown: Raymond Johnson III still pushing to play beyond the preseason

Bengals roster breakdown is back! During the 99 days leading up to Cincinnati's regular season opener against the Cleveland Browns, the player with the matching jersey number as days remaining will become the day's highlighted player.56 days remain until the Bengals' first game of the 2025 season, which brings us to No. 56 Raymond Johnson […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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Jul 26, 2023; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Raymond Johnson III (56) runs drills during training camp at Kettering Health Practice Fields.
Jul 26, 2023; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Raymond Johnson III (56) runs drills during training camp at Kettering Health Practice Fields. © Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

Bengals roster breakdown is back! During the 99 days leading up to Cincinnati's regular season opener against the Cleveland Browns, the player with the matching jersey number as days remaining will become the day's highlighted player.

56 days remain until the Bengals' first game of the 2025 season, which brings us to No. 56 Raymond Johnson III. 

Raymond Johnson III

Age: 26
Year: 5th
Position: Defensive end
College: Georgia Southern
Previous Teams: New York Giants (2021), Detroit Lions (2023), San Francisco 49ers (2024), Jacksonville Jaguars (2024)
Jersey Number: 56

Johnson enters his fifth season in the NFL and third the Bengals after going undrafted during the 2021 NFL Draft. He played four years of college ball at Georgia Southern, recording 150 tackles, 36 tackles for loss, and 16.5 sacks in 50 games. The Giants signed him as a UDFA in 2021 and he played 15 games as a rookie. It's still the only year Johnson has seen the field during the regular season.

Cincinnati first signed Johnson right before training camp in 2022 and kept him on the practice squad for the season. He was elevated once during the postseason but did not play. He shined for the Bengals during the 2023 preseason with eight pressures and two sacks, but the team cut him and were unable to keep him on the practice squad again thanks to the Lions offering him a spot on their practice squad. He stayed in Detroit for most of the 2023 season but was not brought back in the offseason. The San Francisco 49ers signed him in February of 2024 and released him in June. The Jaguars signed him in July and released him during final cuts in August. Cincinnati then added him to the practice squad and has held on to him ever since. 

Contract Details

Johnson signed a one-year, $960,000 futures contract in January. His entire contract is a non-guaranteed base salary of $960,000, so his potential cash earnings and salary cap hit for the season is that amount.

Roster Outlook

It's a good time to be a defensive end in Cincinnati if your name is not Trey Hendrickson or Shemar Stewart. Reps that weren't taken by either of those two were distributed down the depth chart to guys like Johnson, who needs all the exposure he can get to make the team. 

That doesn't mean he can make the team without earning it the hard way.

Hendrickson and Stewart ultimately aren't going anywhere, and neither are Joseph Ossai, Myles Murphy. Cam Sample is likely to stick around as well, so Johnson's biggest competition figures to be Cedric Johnson, one of last year's sixth-round picks who made the roster as a rookie. One of them will likely round out the DE position as the sixth in the group. That role isn't always counted on, but the way injuries can pile up in the trenches, you never know when that level of depth is needed. 

There's a good chance a "Johnson" name plate is on a Week 1 jersey. Raymond may have the tougher road being a journeyman who hasn't played outside the preseason in four years.

Roster odds: 10%
Projected role: Reserve defensive end

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