Bengals Roster: Realistic expectations for Joe Bachie in 2022

Joe Bachie joined the Cincinnati Bengals roster last May after spending the 2020 season with the Eagles. He’s returning for year two in Cincinnati. What should fans expect from him? 

Michigan State product Joe Bachie spent his rookie year with the Eagles in 2020 and appeared in just four games. The Cincinnati Bengals claimed him off waivers last May and he stuck with the team for the entire season.

Not only did Bachie stick with the team but he did see a pretty decent amount of playing time during his second year in the league and first in Cincinnati. He appeared in nine games and totaled 30 tackles and one defended pass.

Bachie did see playing time on defense but he was mostly present on special teams appearing in 57% of the snaps to 27% of defensive snaps.

Bengals Roster: What should fans expect from Joe Bachie in 2022?

The linebacker position is mostly the same as it was a season ago but that doesn’t mean that Bachie won’t have competition when it comes to getting back on the roster this year. Our Lads currently has him as the third-string linebacker behind Germaine Pratt and Markus Bailey, which seems pretty accurate.

Pratt is for sure going to be one of the starters along with Logan Wilson while Bailey played well in his reserve role last year.

Bachie’s biggest competition when it comes to holding onto his third-string job will be UDFAs Carson Wells and Clarence Hicks as well as Keandre Jones. With Bachie’s special teams experience from a season ago and filling in whenever the defense needed him due to injuries to other players, he has a pretty good chance of getting back on the team in 2022.

If he does make the roster, it’ll mostly be as a special teams contributor unless injuries pile up at linebacker. Joe Bachie did manage to play pretty well in 2021 despite being a waiver pickup who not many people paid attention to initially. Will he be able to replicate what he did last year?