There are still hundreds of free agents waiting to find their next NFL home. Which former Cincinnati Bengals sitting on the open market still doesn't come as much of a surprise to Bengals fans?
For this article, we'll be looking at five former Bengals who are still free agents. Three of them played for the Bengals as recent as last year and the other two were names from a few years ago.
All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference
5. Eli Apple
While Bengals fans wouldn't have been mad if Eli Apple was re-signed by the stripes, they're probably not devastated that he wasn't. No one has signed Apple to this point and while his play in 2022 wasn't all that bad, his trash-talking was.
Apple clearly didn't learn his lesson after getting burnt in the Super Bowl and then dealing with the memes and consequences that followed in the following weeks, continuing to trash-talk during the course of the 2022 season. He was benched by the Bengals midway through the 2022 season but was back at it not long after and finished the season with a PFF grade of 52.9 and a PFF grade of 66.2 during the playoffs.
Apple wasn't terrible on the field during the 2022 season but his antics on social media is what likely makes him unappealing for teams. It's not a surprise that he's still waiting for an NFL home considering the things he's said about other teams.