It's understood on my part that minicamp is minicamp. It's June. There's 43 days left until the start of Training Camp on July 31. There is as much implementation of system and plays as there are auditions for playing time; mainly projections of a rough draft, or initial, depth chart. During Thursday's session, the Bengals defense lined up in 11-on-11 drills, lining up people that have a leg-up on position battles.
While it wasn't shocking to see (read) that Chris Crocker and Roy Williams lined up at safety during 11-on-11 drills, it was somewhat of a surprise that Chinedum Ndukwe wasn't. Hobson notes that The Duke lined up in nickel defense, playing safety while Crocker shifted to nicklel back. In 2008, Ndukwe recorded three sacks -- tied for the team lead -- with an interception and was the only defensive player in Cincinnati to record multiple interceptions in a single game during the 2007 campaign. Ndukwe recorded 77 tackles (Bengals.com stat), finishing seventh on the team.
I need to point out that this isn't a campaign to suggest that Ndukwe should be a starter. Marvin Lewis, Mike Zimmer, Kevin Coyle and Louis Cioffi will put the best options on the field, based on the situation. Plus there's nothing to suggest that this is actually the team's starting lineup. It's just minicamp. It does, however, go to show the increasing depth this team has.
| Games | Tackles | T/G | Sacks | INT | |
| Marvin White | 12 (10) | 68 | 5.7 | 0 | 1 |
| Chris Crocker | 8 (6) | 34 | 4.25 | 1.5 | 1 |
| Chinedum Ndukwe | 11 (11) | 64 | 5.8 | 3.0 | 1 |
| Roy Williams * | 15 (13) | 92 | 6.1 | 0 | 2 |
* Used 2007 stat because of a season-long injury in 2008 in which he played three games.
Tackle numbers from NFL.com and "T/G" is tackles per game.