Bengals Roster Breakdown: Cam Grandy's gritty senior season cleared his landing in Cincinnati

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 take a look […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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Cam Grandy
© Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

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 take a look at our first tight end of the series in Cam Grandy, one of three rookie tight ends on the roster. It's a jam-packed position group entering the summer, but what does he have that can make him stand out? Let's take a closer look.

Cam Grandy

  • Age: 24
  • Year: 1st
  • Position: Tight end
  • College: Illinois State
  • Previous Teams: None
  • Jersey Number: 85

Grandy signed with the Bengals as an undrafted free agent following the 2024 NFL Draft. Following four seasons at Missouri Westerrn, Grandy played his final year of college ball at ISU, and it went pretty damn well.

With 63 receptions for 612 yards and three touchdowns, Grandy won the 2023-24 ISU Milt Weisbecker Male Athlete of the Year and was a consensus First-Team All-American, earning honors from the AFCA, FCS Football Central, the Associated Press, Phil Steele, Stats Perform, FCS ADA and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. He led all tight ends in the Missouri Valley Football Conference in yards.

And he did it despite playing four games with a cast on his left hand. Toughness? Check.

Contract details

Grandy signed a three-year college free agent deal with the Bengals in May that will pay him the minimum salary for the 2024 season.

His salary will cost $795,000 for the entire season if he's kept on the team for the entire regular season, but with a $5,000 signing bonus prorated throughout the deal, his cap hit as of now is $796,666 for the year.

Roster chances

Tight end became a position defined by turnover for the Bengals this offseason. Drew Sample and Tanner Hudson remain as holdovers from last year, but Mike Gesicki and draftees Erick All and Tanner McLachlan give the room a much needed injection of talent. 

Grandy fits comfortably behind all of them on the six-deep depth chart, but is there room for him to advance upwards? 

The availability of the other rookies may benefit Grandy early on in training camp. All is coming off a torn ACL and hasn't practiced yet, and McLachlan was dealing with a minor injury during OTAs as well. Gesicki, Sample, and Hudson will get reps over all of them to start out, but if Grandy can make an impression compared to his fellow rookies, that's how a roster push can begin. 

That push will have to turn into something much greater for Grandy to make anything other than the practice squad this year. There's simply not enough room for six tight ends if they're all able to play by September. 

Chances of making the roster: 8%

Previous player breakdowns

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