The Cincinnati Bengals' roster is much improved after an unusually active offseason on the defensive side of the ball in particular. That means some tough decisions are on the horizon once the final 53-man cuts hit.
One of the units that was in dire need of an upgrade was the defensive line. Cincinnati answered the bell via free agency with Boye Mafe and Jonathan Allen, traded the 10th overall pick for Dexter Lawrence, and drafted Cashius Howell in the second round.
Will there be enough room for one of Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden's pupils from back in his Notre Dame days? It'll be a close call.
Isaiah Foskey is firmly on Bengals' roster bubble, but can Al Golden save him a spot?
Despite playing in only eight games last year in Cincinnati, Isaiah Foskey's connection to Golden could very well score him the final spot in the defensive end rotation. Er, maybe a consistent spot on the healthy inactives list.
Foskey was selected 40th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints, and they gave up on him after only two seasons. The Bengals and Golden evidently believed in his talent enough to give him a shot, and re-upped with Foskey, a restricted free agent, right when the 2025 campaign ended with a one-year contract extension.
That move, at that time, seemed to foreshadow bigger things on the horizon for Foskey in the Queen City. One could argue it was the classic insular thinking the Bengals personnel department is notorious for. In other words, "Yeah, let's roll with this gifted but totally unproven player at a position of dire need, and see if he works out as a rotational guy!"
However, once Cincinnati shocked the football world with all of its offseason defensive reinforcements, Foskey's fate became far more precarious.
Ya see, us Who Dey Heads are used to waiting for Godot for a late Day 2 or early Day 3 draft pick to solve our roster deficiencies. This offseason was a refreshing, emphatic change-up to that approach.
That paradigm shift could come at Foskey's expense. Having said this, he does have the link to Golden, who was his defensive coordinator during his last two years in South Bend. Foskey did generate three pressures on 21 pass rush snaps this past season, per PFF. He's listed at 6'5", 280, and came out of college with a sub-4.6 40 time. Those types of athletes don't grow on trees.
Can Foskey hang? Can he beat out Cedric Johnson, a 2024 sixth-round pick out of Ole Miss who had 20 total tackles and two sacks in nine games as an NFL sophomore? What about rising second-year player Antwaun Powell-Ryland, who legendary Eagles GM Howie Roseman thought enough of to spend a sixth-round pick on? Powell-Ryland is more of a hybrid linebacker/edge type, which may actually hurt him, since Golden has those types of plans for Howell.
Foskey's Golden connection may grant him the golden opportunity to stick on the Bengals' roster over those guys. Mafe, Howell, Myles Murphy, and Shemar Stewart are locks. May the best man win! Or perhaps two of them stay. We shall see.
Good problem to have, eh? Unfamiliar territory for the Bengals in recent years, that's for sure.
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