Cincinnati Bengals: First round of cuts don’t offer many surprises

The Cincinnati Bengals have to get their roster down to 85 players and that means players are getting cut all around the league following the first weekend of preseason.

The Bengals opted to waive Reece Horn, Riley Lees, and Pro Wells in this first wave and none of these players getting waived is surprising. Horn and Lees had their work cut out for them at the position they play, as the Bengals are stacked at receiver. Horn was never going to be anything more than a camp body and Lees’ best chance to make the team was as a return specialist but that obviously wasn’t meant to be.

Wells was a promising talent at tight end with his size but he hadn’t popped off the page enough to stay with the team past one preseason game.

The Cincinnati Bengals have waived three players

None of these players did anything in the preseason opener in Tampa and that likely made the decision to waive them a little easier.

At wide receiver, the Bengals have been thrilled to see Trent Taylor and Trenton Irwin up their stock tremendously but that spelled the end for Horn and Lees. They already had an uphill battle but two players on the roster bubble putting on a clinic in the first few weeks of camp was the nail in the coffin for both guys, especially since Taylor was competing for a return specialist job as well.

As for Wells, the Bengals aren’t in a great spot at tight end so there was a chance for Wells to make a name for himself but that didn’t happen obviously. Thaddeus Moss, Mason Schreck, and Mitchell Wilcox all had catches in the preseason opener and will compete for the TE3 job.

These early stages of cuts usually don’t lead to anything shocking and that was exactly the case for Cincinnati here. They parted ways with three players who probably weren’t going to do much for them in the final two preseason games.