Bengals Roster Breakdown: Jay Tufele finds himself on the roster bubble in a contract year

Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots, we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.Today, we get the lowdown […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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Jay Tufele
© Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots, we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.

Today, we get the lowdown on defensive tackle Jay Tufele. He's been with the Bengals for the past two years, and is entering a contract season on the roster bubble. Training camp is where players like him have to stand out to stick around. 

Jay Tufele

  • Age: 24
  • Year: 4th
  • Position: Defensive tackle
  • College: USC
  • Previous Teams: Jacksonville Jaguars
  • Jersey Number: 97

Tufele was drafted by the Jaguars with the 106th overall pick in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He spent four years at USC but only played in two of them. After redshirting in 2017, Tufele played in all 12 games as a redshirt freshman in 2018. His 23 tackles, 4.5 for losses, and three sacks helped him earn All-Pac-12 second team honors, as well as Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year honorable mention. He also won USC’s Defensive Lineman of the Year Award, and went back-to-back and won the award again in 2019 along with All-Pac-12 first team honors. He upped his production to 41 tackles, 6.5 tackles for losses, and 4.5 sacks while starting 13 games. After 25 games in two seasons, he opted out of the 2020 COVID-19 season to prepare for the NFL Draft. 

As a rookie in Jacksonville, Tufele played in four games as a hand injury forced him out for five games in the middle of the season. He would not get a chance to bounce back the following season as he was waived during final cuts leading up to the 2022 opener. Cincinnati claimed him off waivers the next day.

Tufele has since played 17 games and recorded 29 total tackles for the Bengals going back to his debut in Week 6 of 2022. He's provided depth at multiple defensive tackle spots, earning snaps mostly on run defense. He'll also turn 25 the day after this article is published.

Contract details

Tufele signed a four-year, $4,305,684 deal back in 2021 offseason that will pay him $1,055,000 for the 2024 season if he's kept on the entire year.

Because he was waived right before the 2022 season and claimed by the Bengals, the team is only responsible for putting Tufele's salary on their cap sheet and not the signing bonus he earned from the Jags. This means his cap hit will be the same as his 
$1,055,000 salary.

Roster chances

The additions of rookies Kris Jenkins and McKinnley Jackson do not bode well for Tufele sticking around for a third year in Cincinnati. Five is typically the cap for the defensive tackle position, and both draft picks makes it easy to lock in four for the roster. 

Competition for the fifth and likely final spot will go down between Tufele, Zach Carter, and a few other long shots. By the time cuts are going down, Tufele and Carter are likely to be the only two in consideration. 

If the deciding factor between Tufele and Carter is who's the better player, Tufele has a strong case in comparison. But he's also got just one year remaining on his deal and hasn't played as often as Carter over the past two seasons. This will likely be Carter's last year to really prove himself before he's on the outside looking in at the position. 

And it wouldn't be surprising if that's where Tufele finds himself at the end of August.

Chances of making the roster: 40%

Previous player breakdowns

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