The Bengals turned their preseason finale into a 30-13 win over the Eagles in Philadelphia on Friday night, then walked straight into the hardest part of August: deciding who stays when roster cuts arrive at 6 p.m. Sunday. A game that looked routine on the scoreboard instead made the back of the roster harder to sort, not easier.
That is why Josh Johnson is drawing so much attention. He finished the preseason with a 90.6 passer rating, better than Jarrett Stidham, Spencer Rattler and Jameis Winston, and Zac Taylor was asked Friday whether Johnson could be claimed on waivers if the Bengals let him go. Taylor did not sound like a coach eager to waste a quarterback who kept answering every chance he got. He said Johnson would capitalize on every rep he gets or does not get, then later added, “Those are the guys I work with, and they can play.”
The numbers from Friday help explain why the roster talk feels unusually crowded. Joe Flacco played 19 preseason snaps, Johnson 14, Joe Burrow seven and Sean Clifford two. At receiver, Tee Higgins played seven snaps, Ja’Marr Chase six, Andrei Iosivas four, Charlie Jones four, Mitch Tinsley three, Kendric Pryor two, Ke’Shawn Williams two, Xavier Johnson one, Jordan Moore one and Dohnte Meyers one, while Noah Thomas and Colbie Young were on IR. On the ground, Samaje Perine played 10 snaps, Gary Brightwell four, Chase Brown four, Tahj Brooks two and Kendall Milton one.
The game itself added more names to the list of players who made decisions difficult. Ke'Shawn Williams, Charlie Jones, Javon Foster, Jacob Bayer, Swayze Bozeman and Bralyn Lux all played well enough in the finale to keep the Bengals from finding clean answers. Jones had a 31-yard punt return and has a return touchdown in each of the last three seasons. Mitch Tinsley added a 31-yard catch, Williams caught a touchdown pass in the second half, and the Bengals kept getting useful snaps from players fighting for the same limited spots.
There were also the kind of mistakes that can tilt a fringe job. Tahj Brooks lost a fumble. Kentrel Bullock ran for 85 yards on 14 carries, and Jamal Haynes ran for 78 yards on seven carries, including a 39-yard touchdown run after reversing field twice. Haynes came into the game with just one preseason carry before that score. Those performances do not settle the roster, but they sharpen the choice: the Bengals can only keep so many players on the active list, and strong nights from the edge of the roster make the final math harsher.
Sunday’s deadline will force that math. The Bengals can also use practice squad promotions and, in four weeks, put two players on IR-return without those players counting on the 53-man roster. That leaves room, but not much of it, and it is why Johnson’s status matters beyond one preseason rating. He has done enough to make a cut feel expensive, and in a roster crunch that is usually the same thing as being on the bubble.
There was even a backhanded marker of how this August has gone for the Bengals: the article framed it as one of the team’s most impressive Augusts in recent memory. For now, though, that only makes the next step harder. A good preseason has left the Bengals with more players worth keeping than places to keep them.
