Bengals 53-Man Roster Will Be A Fluid Thing

Because I'm vain enough to do it, I wanted to give a final tally of our 2010 53-man roster prediction. In 2009, we missed seven. This year, we missed two -- we had Chase Coffman and Kyries Hebert making the squad, instead David Jones and Frostee Rucker made it. Coffman was a big surprise, but Hebert was a bigger one for me. Not only being a special teams ace, the Bengals only took three safeties, which wasn't expected. Keepin' us on our toes, eh Marvin? We like it. Ultimately, that was quickly amended with a planned trade.

Overall, Saturday was an interesting day, watching quality players fall from the team's 53-man roster because there's simply no room. As Marvin Lewis says, it's a good problem to have. Cincinnati is talented enough that they can get rid of a guy like Chase Coffman, who was expected to be somewhat of an effective tight end in the passing game. They can finally lessen a player's potential, like Dezmon Briscoe, because the team has enough talent (and hopefully confidence) on the roster to be effective today.

Even though the team's 53-man roster has been determined, it's hardly set. In fact, it'll never be truly set. It's just a maximum number that the Bengals can't surprise on their roster. That's it. Players will be released, injured, signed, upgraded from the practice squad. It's a fluid thing. For example, soon after the Bengals announced their 53-man roster on Saturday, they traded cornerback David Jones to the Jacksonville Jaguars for safety Reggie Nelson, giving the team five former first round draft picks in the secondary (Leon Hall, Johnathan Joseph, Adam Jones, Roy Williams and now Nelson).

And we expect today that the 53-man roster will evolve further still. There's still the chance that the Bengals could sign a fullback off waivers, or a quarterback off free agency. Then there's our own players that we threw on the waiver wire that we'll want back on the practice squad, like Dezmon Briscoe, Clinton McDonald, Rico Murray, Otis Hudson, Vincent Rey, Johnny Sears, Jeromy Miles or Joe Tronzo, among others. The practice squad will be announced Sunday.

Stay tuned. We're just getting started heading into the first week of the team's first week in the regular season.