Bengals Roster Breakdown: S
Players:
23. Daxton Hill
33. Nick Scott
27. Jordan Battle
31. Michael Thomas
26. Tycen Anderson
40. Larry Brooks
37. Yusuf Corker
The Bengals lost both starters at the S position from last year. Neither one of Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell were retained in free agency, with them instead heading to Atlanta and Carolina, respectively. Instead, they will be relying on a couple of young draft picks, and a veteran who, not long ago, was a foe in the Super Bowl.
Daxton Hill, last year’s 1st round pick, is set to replace Bates as the FS. Hill looked good in the preseason last year, but played sparingly once the regular season began. And when he did see the field, a lot of his time was spent at CB, something that was a necessity due to other injuries. Going from a reserve player to a full time starter will be a big jump. Surely there will be some peaks and valleys, but the hope is that his high level of talent leads to more peaks than valleys.
Training camp and the preseason may feature a battle for the open SS spot, left vacant by Vonn Bell’s departure. The Bengals signed former Ram Nick Scott in free agency. He brings a lot more speed than Bell could, while also maintaining a hard hitting style of play. The veteran will have to fend off 3rd round rookie Jordan Battle, who like Bell, isn’t the most athletic guy, but is a strong tackler and can be very effective in the box.
The assumption is that Battle is the long term answer at SS, but he’ll have his work cut out for him to win the spot this year. Scott has a fair bit of starting experience, including in the Super Bowl, in which he helped the Rams beat the Bengals. This may give him a pretty good leg up, for 2023 at least.
Hill, Scott, and Battle are all roster locks, meaning that there is likely one more roster spot up for grabs. This camp battle figures to be between Tycen Anderson and Michael Thomas. Given that they are not perfectly comparable, it will be interesting to see who wins out.
Anderson is someone the team is high on, as the Bengals traded up to select him in the 2022 NFL Draft. After a solid preseason, he went on to miss the regular season due to injury. As a mid round pick who missed his rookie year, I don’t think you can consider him a lock to make the roster. Veteran Michael Thomas will also be going for the spot. While he doesn’t play much on defence, and doesn’t have the upside that Anderson has, Thomas has been an outstanding special teamer since joining the Bengals, and was a special teams captain last year. For Anderson, proving himself on special teams will be important, if he wants to win that battle.
Larry Brooks is a rookie UDFA. He is a linear athlete, but has enough straight line speed and is a hard enough hitter to have some potential as a box safety and special teamer. The numbers, however, don’t seem to work in his favour. Barring injuries, a spot on the practice squad seems to be what he’ll be competing for.
Yusuf Corker was originally signed by the Giants as a UDFA last year, but he ended up spending his entire rookie season stashed away on the Bengals practice squad. He’ll likely be competing with Brooks for a potential practice squad spot, depending also on what happens with Anderson and Thomas.
Modified Featured Image Via: Maize & Blue Nation (CC)