Every year we try predicting the regular season roster before final cuts are announced. Sometimes we nail it, some times (aka, most of the time) we miss. For our 53-man roster prediction in 2010, we missed twice. We had Chase Coffman and Kyries Hebert making the squad. Neither did. David Jones and Frostee Rucker were the two players that we didn't predict making the squad. Before everything could really sink in, the Bengals completed a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars, shipping Jones off for safety Reggie Nelson.
And most could argue, the Bengals won the trade. Jones allowed a passer rating of 114.6 with the Jaguars to quarterbacks targeting players he covered. Jones didn't post any defensive snaps after week eight until he played a handful of defensive snaps during the final game of the regular season. For whatever reason, the Jaguars re-signed Jones.
The Bengals greatly benefited from the trade, picking up Reggie Nelson who would become a significant contributor throughout the second-half of the season. Nelson only allowed a passer rating of 30.4 to quarterbacks targeting players he covered while posting 51 tackles. Only nine of 20 pass attempts found players he covered and for the season, he only allowed 146 yards receiving. No touchdowns allowed, two passes intercepted and seven passes defensed, the Bengals clearly picked up a contributor that helped fill in for an injured Chris Crocker.
Nelson is entering the final year under contract.