Bengals Player Profile: Isaiah Foskey hoping to stay with Al Golden after reuniting last season
The Cincinnati Bengals called upon Isaiah Foskey as emergency depth at defensive end last year. The position has been reloaded for 2026, and he’s on the outside looking in at the moment.
We’re 44 days away from the Cincinnati Bengals’ preseason finale against the Philadelphia Eagles. As we get closer and closer to the regular season, we’ll be covering the entirety of the Bengals’ 90-man roster, player-by-player. Check out previous player profiles here.
The next player in the series came reunited with his former coach last season.
Isaiah Foskey Player Profile
Age: 25
Year: 4th
Position: Defensive end
College: Notre Dame
Jersey Number: 51
Isaiah Foskey was originally drafted No. 40 overall in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. Prior to the NFL, Foskey played four years (2019-2022) at Notre Dame. He played in 41 games (27 starts) and ended up setting a new program record 26.5 sacks. His lone year as a team captain in 2022 was also the one season he played under current Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden, who held the same title for the Fighting Irish.
Foskey entered the league with expectations matching his draft status, and he did not meet them. He played just 84 snaps in 10 games as a rookie for New Orleans. He had even fewer snaps (65) in 2024. The Saints cut him prior to the 2025 season, and he stayed available for two weeks before Cincinnati signed him to its practice squad following Week 1. The Bengas signed him to their active roster in Week 13 and played him in three games on defense.
Contract details
Foskey signed a futures contract with the Bengals at the beginning of the offseason. He’s under contract for one-year, $1,145,000. His base salary, cash figure, and salary cap hit is all $1.145 million.
Roster outlook
Cincinnati called upon Foskey as emergency depth at defensive end last year. The position has been reloaded for 2026, and he’s on the outside looking in at the moment.
Myles Murphy, Boye Mafe, Shemar Stewart, and Cashius Howell are locks. Cedric Johnson is right behind them and may even be ahead of the rookie Howell in the pre-training camp depth chart.
Foskey pushing it to six DEs would not be crazy, but considering there will be at least five defensive tackles as well, it may be one too many. He needs to push Johnson off the team in order to safely make it beyond the practice squad.
Roster odds: 15%