Bengals Cornerback Shuffle

When the 2011 season ended, a major void was left at the cornerback position. After a very surprising and successful outing last season, one of the big questions that remained was, ‘what does Cincinnati do about the depth at cornerback?’. That question was answered during the off-season by bringing in free agents Jason Allen and Terence Newman, two former first round draft picks. They also used their own first round draft pick on cornerback, Dre Kirkpatrick. Along with re-signing Pacman Jones and retaining Nate Clements and incumbent starter, Leon Hall, that makes six first round cornerbacks on the Bengals roster.

Also on the roster is fifth round selection, Shaun Prater, and former third round selection, Brandon Ghee. Both of these young players have a lot to prove, Prater as a rookie, and Ghee after only seeing a handful of NFL snaps. There have been reports out of camp though, that Ghee is showing some nice flashes during practices even though he is not getting a lot of media attention. So where does that leave the Bengals corners going into the 2012 season?

It is still very early to say who is going to make the team, who is on the bubble, and who seems destined to be cut, or put on the practice squad, but this early in the year, it’s time for some speculation. The Bengals generally keep six cornerbacks on their 53-man roster.