The Fourth of July is a top-tier holiday for plenty of Americans. If we were to poll the brave hot dogs that are made and sold by Nathan's, they may feel a bit differently.

Perhaps the most American tradition in existence is the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, held every year on America's Independence Day at Coney Island, New York. The annual tournament of gorging hundreds of hot dogs has been dominated by renowned competitive eater Joey Chestnut, who's won 16 Mustard Belts and the last seven in a row.

But what if the Cincinnati Bengals wanted to end Chestnut's dynasty? Who would they send to dethrone the king in his castle? These four players come to mind as the Bengals' best hopes

4 Bengals who could win the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

CB Mike Hilton

Look at your average contestant that shows up to challenge Chestnut every year. They are the best eaters in the world, and they look exactly like you and me. They aren’t inordinately large human beings by any stretch of the imagination. 

Hilton's got NFL strength in an average person's body. He plays much larger than his size would indicate, maybe his stomach does as well.

LG Cordell Volson

Entering year two in Cincinnati, Volson has bulked up tremendously. He’s around 330 pounds, and has added a good amount of muscle to his frame. How you think he got that bulk? I’m thinking some glizzies.

This is more projection on my part, but Volson's a country boy through and through. Raised in the heartlands of North Dakota State, he's got that country strength to him. His appetite likely knows no bounds. The buns usually give people the most fits. They would be but a soggy speed bump for the 24-year old kid.

WR Ja’Marr Chase

During the month-long stretch in which he was sidelined with a hip fracture, Chase was roasted by teammates Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd for eating two hot dogs with no condiments on the sidelines of their road game against the Tennessee Titans.

His colleagues thought to laugh at what they assumed was an amateur hot dog eater. Little did they know they were in the presence of a glizzy gobbler, training to take down the world's greatest gobbler of glizzies. Give Chase about 70 more hot dogs, and he'll get it done.

C Ted Karras

Look at him. No seriously, does that look like the face of someone who doesn’t win at everything?

Consumption for a cause is in Karras' DNA. When he was trying to make weight in middle school he would drink a gallon of milk before school every day. Later in life, he upgraded to an entire box of cereal every day for the same purpose. 

His stomach is a pit of despair for all conglomerates of nutrients and carbs. A bottomless chasm that ceases to cap itself. You can almost sense the britches of Chestnut starting to fill up with excrement. 

Bengals: Ted Karras’ o-line optimism is well earned

He’s at the center of progress, after all.

Featured image via © Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK