Bengals 2025 Roster Breakdown: Barrett Carter going from pleasant NFL Draft surprise to four-down player

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.49 days remain until the Bengals' first game of the 2025 season, bringing No. 49 Barrett Carter to center stage.  […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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Nov 23, 2024; Clemson, South Carolina, USA; Clemson Tigers linebacker Barrett Carter (0) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against The Citadel Bulldogs during the fourth quarter at Memorial Stadium.
© Ken Ruinard-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.

49 days remain until the Bengals' first game of the 2025 season, bringing No. 49 Barrett Carter to center stage. 

Barrett Carter

Age: 22
Year: 1st
Position: Linebacker
College: Clemson
Previous Teams: None
Jersey Number: 49

Carter enters his first season in the NFL and with the Bengals after being drafted 119th overall during the 2025 NFL Draft. He spent four years at Clemson, playing 52 games in all four years and starting 40 of them. He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, where he was teammates with Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II, and was originally a running back before moving to linebacker as a sophomore.

Clemson named Carter a sophomore starter in 2022 and he eventually molded into one of the leaders of the defense. He earned First Team All-ACC honors as a senior in 2024 and led the Tigers in tackles. He only missed two games his entire college career due to injury.

Contract Details

Carter signed his four-year, $5,182,116 rookie contract in May. He's already earning a signing bonus of $982,116 this year and can earn a base salary of $840,000 this season. His potential cash earnings for this year amount to $1,822,116.

When adding on his signing bonus proration of $245,529, Carter's salary cap hit for the 2025 season is $1,085,529. 

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Roster Outlook

Carter and the Bengals were a common pre-draft pairing this offseason, so the only reason why it was surprising for him to end up in Cincinnati was because of how the draft was already going. Carter became the second LB drafted by the Bengals following Demetrius Knight Jr. getting picked in the second round.

Cincinnati wanted to re-work its linebacker room, and Carter was one of the very best players available. Now he's entrenched as a reserve behind Knight and Logan Wilson, and veteran free agent signing Oren Burks is likely also ahead of him when looking at the depth chart. 

Carter's making the team, but he's probably years away from becoming a full-time starter in Cincinnati with Wilson and Knight contractually locked in for the next few seasons. He may never amount to that status at all, which was the fate of another former fourth-rounder Akeem Davis-Gaither, but ADG was a special teams staple and provided occasional snaps on defense when called upon. Carter played 508 special teams snaps in college, so he's ready for that exact job description.   

Projected role: Backup linebacker

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