We all liked full back Chris Pressley. He was a hard knocking hitter on Hard Knocks, competing against Fui Vakapuna, J.D Runnels and veteran Jeremi Johnson for the position. Unfortunately for everyone, Jeremi Johnson resumed some resemblance of what he did earlier in his career. As a result, Runnels was let go early. Vakapuna and Pressley were featured on Hard Knocks while nervously sitting around waiting for the call if they made the squad or not. Both were waived. Pressley returned on the team's practice squad.

The hope was that Pressley would be on hand during next year's offseason in case Jeremi Johnson frustrated the entire organization with his annual off-season weight problems. However, that's not going to happen now. The Bengals tweet that "FB Chris Pressley signed off practice squad by Tampa Bay."

On one hand, it kind of sucks Pressley is going from a playoff contender to a team that hasn't won either of their seven games. On the other hand, Pressley is now on an NFL 53-man roster. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost their true fullback, B.J. Askew to a season-ending injury suffered in an auto accident and Earnest Graham has filled in at fullback. Most likely, Pressley will get a shot to start, who is the only listed fullback on Tampa Bay's roster.

Apparently snaps that went everywhere except to the holder was just too much to handle for the Cincinnati Bengals coaching staff. On Tuesday afternoon, the Bengals announced that they finally released long snapper Brad St. Louis.

A 4-1 start marred by snafus in the field-goal operation that has cost the Bengals 11 points in a season they have won by an average of four points cost the long snapper his job Tuesday when the club cut Brad St. Louis after 10 seasons and 144 games.

The Bengals replaced him with Clark Harris, a first-year player who has four games of NFL experience, all at the end of last season with the Texans. After spending most of last season on their practice squad, the Texans released him on cut down day before this season started. The 6-5, 257-pound Harris spent another week on the practice squad before Houston cut him last week.

Harris was one of four non-turtle long snappers the Bengals invited last week, basically putting St. Louis on notice that he was in serious jeopardy of losing his job. When he elected to long snap a punt against the Ravens, when a seven-yard snap would have sufficed sending Shayne Graham and Kevin Huber scrambling to recover the fumble, he was rewarded by the football gods when Baltimore was called for illegal formation. However, his ten year stay have ended when another bad snap, though Huber recovered it quick enough, was partly to blame for a terrible field goal attempt.

Like St. Louis, Harris is a tight end who, if anything, has four career regular season games under his belt.

• 2007 NFL Draft: Drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the seventh round.
• September 1, 2007: Cut.
• September 2, 2007: Signed on Green Bay's practice squad.
• September 11, 2007: Cut from Green Bay's practice squad.
• November 28, 2007: Signed to the Detroit Lions practice squad.
• August 19, 2008: Re-signed with the Detroit Lions.
• August 30, 2008: Cut from the Lions
• September 17, 2008: Signed with the Houston Texans practice squad.
• September 30, 2008: Released from the Texans practice squad.
• November 5, 2008: Signed with the Houston Texans practice squad.
• December 3, 2008: Promoted to the Texans' 53-man roster (Bryan Pittman was suspended for four games).
• September 5, 2009: Waived from the Houston Texans
• September 6, 2009: Signed with the Texans practice squad
• October 6, 2009: Released from the Texans practice squad

And in a bit of irony. Who do the Bengals play this weekend? None other than the Houston Texans.

David Jones has all but returned. He's no longer appearing on injury reports [UPDATE: Actually Jones did appear on the injury report, but only because of the injury he has been dealing with. He did fully practice on Wednesday and Thursday] and you can assume he'll be seeing his first action this Sunday against the Ravens since injuring his foot early in Training Camp. As a result, the Bengals decided to waive cornerback Geoffrey Pope and sign our boy, linebacker Dan "Stuka" Skuta off the team's practice squad. As Joe Reedy observes, Skuta is the third college free agent on the roster this year, behind Tom Nelson and Quan Cosby. Rey Maualuga is still recovering from his knee injury against the Steelers -- even though played against the Browns -- and Rashad Jeanty hurt his finger against the Browns which may have convinced the team to add a seventh linebacker.

Reedy also observes that the move opens the "possibility that they may try to sign a long snapper and assign him to the practice squad." The reasoning is to a long snapper on the practice squad to work with the special teams. When or if the team elects to release Brad St. Louis, they'll already have a guy ready. I know what some of you are thinking. How hard is it to long snap? The topic was raised on Bengals.com and Geoff Hobson wrote:

This is classic Catch-22. Simmons said it’s a fine line because if the team makes a move, the specialists have to start from scratch with the timing of the operation. But the other side is, how can you continue to put the team in jeopardy if you don’t make a move?

“Any time you can get a guy on the practice squad that makes sense. You get to work with them. I don’t care what position it is before you throw somebody to the wolves,” Simmons said. “That’s definitely something that goes into it. If you make a change, it takes time to develop trust in one another.”

Regardless how that all works out. The Bengals have Stuka!

More photos » by Jeff Swinger - AP

3 months ago: Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco attempts a tackle on cornerback Rico Murray after a reception at a practice game during NFL training camp in Georgetown, Ky. on Saturday Aug. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/The Cincinnati Enquirer, Jeff Swinger)

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In the same piece that announced Antwan Odom being named the defensive player of the week, Bengals.com beat writer Geoff Hobson wrote, "Tampa Bay picked safety Corey Lynch off the Cincinnati practice squad and the Bengals replaced him with rookie cornerback Rico (Murray)." Lynch was signed onto Tampa Bay's 53-man roster in an effort to build the team's secondary depth.

Lynch was the seventh player the Bengals selected in the 2008 NFL draft in the sixth round. He played in seven games last year, recording nine tackles and an interception before going on Injured Reserve for the season. A position battle broke out during Training Camp this year and Tom Nelson beat out Lynch for a spot on the roster. Nelson has been inactive both weeks this year.

Rico Murray was one of the team's 2009 undrafted free agents, lasting through Training Camp and the preseason before he was one of 18 players waived on final cut down day. Murray replaces Lynch on the team's practice squad.

The Bengals official tweet writes that former Bengals safety Marvin White was claimed by the Dallas Cowboys. While many saw his potential as a destructive hard hitting safety when he was drafted, White really never fulfilled those expectations. While he showed a terrible weakness against the pass, his inability to be a sure tackler as a safety killed his chances with the Bengals. Remember last year during the preseason game against the Packers when he drilled the wide receiver, but the receiver never went down and scored a touchdown?

White finished last year on Injured Reserve after rupturing his ACL and MCL after a 34-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. What was the most impressive thing in White's career with Cincinnati, was that he suffered the injury early in the game and spent three quarters playing with the injury. You have to admit, he was tough.

Oddly enough, in the end, the Bengals and Cowboys swap hard-hitting safeties that are weak in coverage. Hopefully Williams is a far surer tackler than White ever was.

On Friday, we raised the point that the Bengals will need to cut five players to get under the 75-man roster limit come September 1. We looked at the roster and conjectured what positions the Bengals could look at.

On Saturday, the Bengals cut three. Cornerback Jamar Fletcher, who was house-sitting until David Jones returns -- and the play of Morgan Trent hasn't been that bad. Defensive tackle Pernell Phillips and wide receiver Greg Orton were the others. Neither Phillips or Orton got any playing time during the preseason.

This brings the Bengals count to 77. Now the Bengals are down to nine wide receivers, six cornerbacks and four defensive tackles -- the fourth being recently signed Langston Moore. Jason Shirley could arguably help out here, since he was a defensive tackle a few weeks ago.

Expect two more cuts by this Tuesday.

Joe Reedy and C. Trent tweeted about 15 minutes ago that the Bengals have brought former Bengal, defensive tackle Langston Moore, formerly of the Detroit Lions and NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals, back to Cincinnati. Moore will likely contend for a rotational position and back up Domata Peko, Tank Johnson, and rotate in with Pat Sims. Moore played in 9 games for Detroit last year, registering 12 tackles and 1 sack.

He was the first overall pick in the sixth round of the 2003 draft by the Bengals. He spent 2003 on the practice squad before playing 15 games in 2004.

Langston Moore

#79 / Detroit Lions

Height: 6-1

Weight: 305

Born: Jul 17, 1981

College: South Carolina

Joe Reedy reported today that the Bengals waived college free agent signings Marlon Lucky, a former Cornhusker tailback, and San Jose State wide receiver David Richmond. Neither of these guys were particularly likely to make the team, as the Bengals are fairly stocked at both wide receiver and running back. Lucky had two carries for 15 yards on Thursday night in New England, and Richmond did not manage to get any playing time in the preseason. That tells us that these guys were simply long shots to make the roster.

There are now 77 guys on the roster, which the Bengals have to trim down to 75 by September 1. I'd expect the next two cuts to be on the defensive side of the ball, where the Bengals are carrying 7 safeties and cornerbacks, 9 linebackers, and 6 defensive ends.

The Bengals are still carrying 5 running backs. Cedrick Benson and Brian Leonard are essentially locks to make the team. I'd venture to guess that Bernard Scott is probably going to make it as well, but for the sake of discussion, the three guys on the bubble are Scott, DeDe Dorsey, and James Johnson. Of those three, Scott has by far the most upside, and is the most likely to stick around. Here's a look at their numbers through the preseason so far.

Scott has clearly gotten the most extended look of these three guys, splitting carries with Brian Leonard (who has 13) with the second team. I think the "ATT" number is indicative of who the coaches plan on keeping around. Dorsey's big yardage total and average is due, of course, to that big 45 yard run against the Patriots on Thursday.

As for the WR position, I think the top five guys are pretty obvious at this point. Guys battling for a roster spot will be Freddie Brown, Greg Orton, Maurice Purify, and Quan Cosby. Cosby has gotten an extended look at Punt Returner this summer with Antoine Chatman sidelined with his latest, newest, and most improved injury.

Cosby is currently listed as second on the depth chart behind Chatman. He has not been particularly impressive, but we haven't seen many punt returns. I think that is a big value booster for Cosby, though. To date, he's returned 3 punts for 12 yards. No one else has returned a punt for the Bengals. Cosby has been the best kickoff return man in a small sample size, buoyed by a 34 yard return. Andre Caldwell will likely be the kickoff guy this year.

As for Brown, Orton, and Purify, only Purify has any catches so far this preseason, hauling in two passes for 19 yards. I see all of these guys as long shots to make the roster unless they show that they can really contribute on kick or punt coverage. We might see some of these names on the practice squad.