Bengals confirm they have both a good and bad problem to solve before the regular season arrives
The Cincinnati Bengals have problems with two of the most important position groups on the roster. Luckily, only one problem is concerning.
The Cincinnati Bengals have a winning preseason record for the first time in Zac Taylor’s tenure following their 27-9 win over the Chicago Bears. Super Bowl incoming? We’ll check back in February for that, but the vibes are looking pretty good right now.
Cincinnati’s offense put up nearly 30 points with third-string quarterback Josh Johnson starting the first half, and fourth-stringer Sean Clifford taking all of the second half. Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher was calling plays, and it resulted in a convincing win for the backups and reserves as the defense held the Chicago Bears to just three field goals.
Winning by 18 points is nice, but the real value from Saturday night is the intel the Bengals now have about two of the most important position groups on the roster. There are problems with each of them, but only one of them is concerning.
Bengals confirmed their embarrassment of riches at receiver
Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Andrei Iosivas must’ve had smiles on their faces all night, watching their backups play like them.
Cincinnati rolled out rookie Colbie Young and former CFLer Dohnte Meyers as the two starters with Mitch Tinsley coming in later to round out the first string for the night. That should tell you who has the inside track to making the team in an offense that carries six receivers.
Young and Meyers in particular played well. The former had two impressive sideline catches and eight targets to his name throughout the game. Young led the team with 48 receiving yards and a touchdown on three receptions. The latter continued making the most of his touches and has burst and speed after the catch that is very much needed in this receiver room. Meyers posted 41 yards on five receptions.
But then there’s Ke’Shawn Williams, who has returner experience and put together 42 yards on three receptions. And rookie UDFA Noah Thomas, who caught his first career touchdown just inside the red zone, would probably have a good roster case elsewhere.
I think it’s pretty clear that Meyers is going to make this team. He was on the field before Charlie Jones and Williams, handled the majority of both kickoff and punt returns, and look good handling all those roles.
The downside is there will be multiple receivers good enough to make the team who end up on waivers.
They’ll get someone they want back on the practice squad, but the reality of building out of 53-man roster is that some of the 53 best players don’t make the team.
Backup offensive tackle is currently a nightmare
This whole week has been about granting Jalen Rivers his best chance at making an impact this year. He was moved from right guard to left tackle following the preseason opener, as the Bengals pivoted from Cody Ford as the favored to become the swing tackle.
Rivers got a week of practice on the edge, and it did not translate to anything good during the game.
While there were no sacks allowed by any offensive linemen for Cincinnati, Rivers is not going to enjoy the tape that he put out. He was penalized for a false start, in a bad rep and pass protection led to a hit on his QB. There were others they weren’t so pretty as well.
Again, this was not the Bengals’ first option. Rivers was the alternative, and Ford was not much better at RG.
“If a backup tackle has to go in the game, we want to keep playing the way that we play,” Coach Zac Taylor said after the game. “Just have to be able to trust them in a game. There is plenty of competition there, and we still have two weeks to go with it.”
Cincinnati is county its blessings with 2026 NFL Draft picks Connor Lew and Brian Parker II looking like quality reserves. Backup center Jacob Bayer is good enough to make this team as well.
But if anything at all happens to left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., or right tackle Amarius Mims, they are in big trouble.
The Bengals don’t always make aggressive moves leading up to the season, but they should be highly pressed to trade for someone better than Rivers and Ford as their new swing tackle.
If only they could swap out a receiver for a lineman.
