Bengals 2025 Roster Breakdown: Kole Taylor brings more offseason depth to Cincinnati's tight end room

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.86 days remain until the Bengals' first game of the 2025 season, which introduces us to No. 86 Kole Taylor. […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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Cincinnati Bengals tight end Kole Taylor (86) catches a pass during a session of organized team activities on the Bengals practice field at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.
© Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via 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.

86 days remain until the Bengals' first game of the 2025 season, which introduces us to No. 86 Kole Taylor.

Kole Taylor

  • Age: 23
  • Year: Rookie
  • Position: Tight end
  • College: West Virginia
  • Previous Teams: None
  • Jersey Number: 86

Taylor enters his first season in the NFL after going undrafted in the 2025 NFL Draft. He played two years at West Virginia and spent the previous three seasons at LSU. He played in 58 games, starting 30 of them from 2020-24. He amassed 95 receptions for 1,048 yards and eight touchdowns for his college career.

After three years seeing minimal action at LSU, Taylor transferred to WVU in 2023 and was immediately featured as a starter. He led the Mountaineers in receptions (35), touchdowns (4), and was third in yards (444). He put together a similar 2024 campaign with 43 receptions, 448 yards, and three touchdowns.

Contract Details

Taylor signed a three-year, $2.975 million college free agent deal in May following the draft. He earned a $10,000 signing bonus and can earn a non-guaranteed $840,000 base salary this season. 

Taylor's salary cap hit for the season is $843,333 and he can earn $850,000 in cash this year. Should the Bengals waive Taylor sometime this offseason, they'd only be on the hook for his $10,000 signing bonus as dead money.

Roster Outlook

Cincinnati's tight end room was set to look the exact same as last year's had Erick All Jr. not suffered an injury that will take him out until 2026. Taylor, who's now the tallest TE on the roster at 6-7. is the only new addition and will fill the reps gap with All sidelined this offseason. That doesn't mean he'll fill All's role on the roster or make the roster at all. 

The Bengals are content at tight end. Not that it's a definite strength of the team, but a UDFA isn't likely to shake things up. Drew Sample, Mike Gesicki, and Cam Grandy are essentially locks. Tanner Hudson and Tanner McLachlan have slightly less roster security, but Taylor will need a fantastic training camp and preseason to elevate himself over either of them. 

Roster odds: 10%
Projected role: Reserve tight end

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