Stab at the Roster

[Wraith]

This was not meant to be a depth chart, just put guys in as I thought of them.

Where do I get the impression that Sims could be in trouble? The fact that he regressed as a player last year and found himself down on the depth chart by the end of the year. This is a VERY deep team which means some good players are going to be cut.

[Trevor]

Sims, wont be cut i dont think... Neither will frostee... Maybe but i dont think he will, if he's healthy he's a badass playmaker...

[Wraith]

You guys obviously have strong opinions on this, care to take a shot at the roster? All the players who are going to be here are here very likely, I doubt that the team is going to be very active on the waiver wire considering our depth.

[Ickey44]

Well, IMO, if I had to choose between Cosby and Caldwell, I'd take Cosby. Caldwell is just too inconsistent. Cosby is also quicker, shiftier, and seems to have better hands than Caldwell. Caldwell is only fast running in a straight line and as evidenced by the couple of games last year where they tried to send him deep, he just can't do it. Besides, we have Bryant now as a deep threat. So yeah, gimme Cosby. He's the better all-around player.

[BengalPimp]

Andre Caldwell < Older brother Reche Caldwell

[Ickey44]

Andre Caldwell < Older brother Reche Caldwell

Exactly.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Well, IMO, if I had to choose between Cosby and Caldwell, I'd take Cosby. Caldwell is just too inconsistent. Cosby is also quicker, shiftier, and seems to have better hands than Caldwell. Caldwell is only fast running in a straight line and as evidenced by the couple of games last year where they tried to send him deep, he just can't do it. Besides, we have Bryant now as a deep threat. So yeah, gimme Cosby. He's the better all-around player.

They're different receivers. Caldwell's not the shifty type, and he's not the burner type. He's the 'defeat the zone and make the catch while keeping your body between the DB and the ball" type. A very poor man's TJ, if you will. If Caldwell gets knocked off the field on a persistent basis, it's not by either Quan or Bryant. It'll be by one of our young pass-catching TEs.

In any event, Quan dresses as a PR unless something drastic or drastically stupid happens. That'll give him a chance to get on the field as a WR. Realistically, I think it'll take injuries (or Bryant sucking) to get him much PT just because of the logjam at WR, but you never know.

[ArmyBengal]

There have been some interesting articles by Reedy talking about the roster and he addresses each spot in regards to how many we currently have on the roster and how many players we carried at each position from last year. They are called "Rostertology" over on Cincinnati.com and in seeing some of those numbers for the positions is going to make this team VERY interesting this year. For example, they kept 10 players for the secondary last year. That's a bunch of options !!! Here are the numbers we carried at each position last season:

D-Line- 8

Linebackers- 6

Secondary- 10

QB's- 3

Running Backs- 4

Fullbacks- 1

WR's- 6

TE's- 3

O-line- 9

Of course kicker, punter, and long snapper...

[Sea Ray]

There have been some interesting articles by Reedy talking about the roster and he addresses each spot in regards to how many we currently have on the roster and how many players we carried at each position from last year. They are called "Rostertology" over on Cincinnati.com and in seeing some of those numbers for the positions is going to make this team VERY interesting this year. For example, they kept 10 players for the secondary last year. That's a bunch of options !!! Here are the numbers we carried at each position last season:

D-Line- 8

Linebackers- 6

Secondary- 10

QB's- 3

Running Backs- 4

Fullbacks- 1

WR's- 6

TE's- 3

O-line- 9

Of course kicker, punter, and long snapper...

We'd better hope that the roster looks very interesting at this point because if it doesn't then that means we can't afford any injuries. We all know that folks will go down so that makes projecting a roster now kinda pointless.

[ArmyBengal]

We all know that folks will go down so that makes projecting a roster now kinda pointless.

Pointless ?? Maybe, but what else is there to do but speculate at this time of the season ??

At least it lends to some interesting conversation at times, but I know what you mean...

Not only that, but for some claiming this guy or that guy will get cut or make the team, those numbers might help people understand how that may play out.

I find it interesting when considering who we brought in and who we drafted.

[Trevor]

There have been some interesting articles by Reedy talking about the roster and he addresses each spot in regards to how many we currently have on the roster and how many players we carried at each position from last year. They are called "Rostertology" over on Cincinnati.com and in seeing some of those numbers for the positions is going to make this team VERY interesting this year. For example, they kept 10 players for the secondary last year. That's a bunch of options !!! Here are the numbers we carried at each position last season:

D-Line- 8

Linebackers- 6

Secondary- 10

QB's- 3

Running Backs- 4

Fullbacks- 1

WR's- 6

TE's- 3

O-line- 9

Of course kicker, punter, and long snapper...

We really need more Dline than that... 4 rbs are not neede IMO... Especially since scott may not be used on returns as much... WE have 3 guys we know who can be RB's...scott can be a 100 yd per game too, Even leanard wants to be a better RB this year... He may not be a 4 yds a carry guy but i think he can get some production if ced's banged up, I think we can keep mendenhall or peerman on the PS... So that lets us keep a good Dlineman.

or we can sign a vet if something happens to ced God forbid...

[ArmyBengal]

We really need more Dline than that... 4 rbs are not neede IMO... Especially since scott may not be used on returns as much... WE have 3 guys we know who can be RB's...scott can be a 100 yd per game too, Even leanard wants to be a better RB this year... He may not be a 4 yds a carry guy but i think he can get some production if ced's banged up, I think we can keep mendenhall or peerman on the PS... So that lets us keep a good Dlineman.

or we can sign a vet if something happens to ced God forbid...

We only have 6 RB's on the roster right now and you know Benson, Scott, and Leonard are locks at this point. The 4th spot would be a battle between Peerman, Mendenhall, and Eason, with the winner being of very little consequence to me. If they wanted to go light at the RB spot, say 3, I wouldn't mind much. They only carried 3 for the majority of the season last year, so it wouldn't surprise me if it happened that way, but health concerns for both Benson and Scott are considerations.

[Sea Ray]

We all know that folks will go down so that makes projecting a roster now kinda pointless.

Pointless ?? Maybe, but what else is there to do but speculate at this time of the season ??

At least it lends to some interesting conversation at times, but I know what you mean...

Not only that, but for some claiming this guy or that guy will get cut or make the team, those numbers might help people understand how that may play out.

I find it interesting when considering who we brought in and who we drafted.

I understand what you mean too.

What do us football fans do in May? It does beat talking about Chad on DWTS and how large his personal parts are

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

We only have 6 RB's on the roster right now and you know Benson, Scott, and Leonard are locks at this point. The 4th spot would be a battle between Peerman, Mendenhall, and Eason, with the winner being of very little consequence to me. If they wanted to go light at the RB spot, say 3, I wouldn't mind much. They only carried 3 for the majority of the season last year, so it wouldn't surprise me if it happened that way, but health concerns for both Benson and Scott are considerations.

Can they PS the "winner" of the 4th spot rather than carrying him on the 53? I assume all those guys are eligible.

[ArmyBengal]

I would assume that to be the situation as well DC. There are many players that could potentially benefit from adding an extra roster spot.

WR, D-line, secondary, linebacker.....

[Sea Ray]

In this next CBA I sure hope the owners throw the Players Union a bone in expanding rosters from 53 to 60. These 7 spots would invariably be minimum salaried guys but an NFL team needs a lot more than 53 to get through a 16 game season. The colleges have 84 scholarship guys for a much shorter season. This needs to be addressed

[COB]

Take a stab at our roster? Shouldn't we leave that to the Ravens linebackers?

/ill-timed rimshot by intoxicated drummer/

[bwillycuse]

In this next CBA I sure hope the owners throw the Players Union a bone in expanding rosters from 53 to 60. These 7 spots would invariably be minimum salaried guys but an NFL team needs a lot more than 53 to get through a 16 game season. The colleges have 84 scholarship guys for a much shorter season. This needs to be addressed

I agree - Maybe not even 60 but at least a couple more spots.

If season gets pushed to 18 reg season games then most definitely need a bit bigger roster.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

In this next CBA I sure hope the owners throw the Players Union a bone in expanding rosters from 53 to 60. These 7 spots would invariably be minimum salaried guys but an NFL team needs a lot more than 53 to get through a 16 game season. The colleges have 84 scholarship guys for a much shorter season. This needs to be addressed

Actually, in a way the current system provides more flexibility. Those extra guys still exist, they're just home, working out for free, waiting for a call.

By keeping rosters smaller, teams can't camp on players. And besides, you do already have the practice squad. If you like, expand the PS from (is it 6?) to 10 or so. That way you have more players actively involved, but another team can sign them to prevent teams from squatting on players.

[ArmyBengal]

You could also take it a step further with the practice squad where it's not so easy to cherry pick off another teams PS.

[derekshank]

Just a couple notes I read.

After seeing OTAs and Minicamp, Joe Reedy guesses the last WRs standing will be 1) Chad, 2) Bryant, 3) Shipley, 4) Caldwell, 5) Simpson, and 6) Cosby. He said that while Matt Jones displayed good hands, he was slow off of the line.

John Clayton also noted that he thought Shipley would steal the primary slot receiver position from Caldwell by midseason, and that Matt Jones will be the odd man out as he "looks a step slow, especially running outside routes."