Once the Bengals bye week has passed they will travel to Seattle to battle the Seahawks. During this match-up the Bengals might see two familiar faces suiting up for Seattle.
Former Bengals defensive tackle Jason Shirley and rookie linebacker Stephen Franklin signed with Seattle today as the Seahawks placed veteran cornerback Marcus Trufant on IR with a neck injury that will end his season.
Shirley was originally drafted by the Bengals in the fifth round of the 2008 draft out of Fresno State. During his tenure with Cincinnati, Shirley played in only three games and compiled four tackles. Shirley was retained for the Bengals practice squad to start off the 2011 season, only to be waived from the practice squad on Sept. 3. Shirley never got much of an opportunity to prove his value to the Bengals. For the most part he was just another body on the depth-chart who was waiting for his chance.
Franklin has been added to the active roster for Seattle. So unless he is cut from the roster within the next two weeks there is a decent chance that he could see some action against the Bengals.
In two weeks the Bengals will travel to Seattle. Through the first five games Seattle has had one of the worst offenses in the league averaging only 288 yards of offense per game. They don't have many threats on offense, outside of Marshawn Lynch and Sidney Rice and their lack of offensive product has cost them so far this season. With the Bengals in town it probably won't get any easier, assuming the Bengals are still ranked in the top-five for defense.
It will be interesting to see if Seattle places Shirley on the active roster in time for their battle against Cincinnati. And if he is on the roster, it will be intriguing to see if he gets any playing time against his former team.