Marvin Lewis Names Two Tryout Players Who Had Good Weekends

Players that receive tryouts during the rookie minicamp are often making one last effort to join an NFL roster, continuing a dream they've had throughout much of their football lives. Cincinnati invited a handful of players to tryout, including the more famously known quarterback Tony Pike (more on that later). When asked about his overall impressions, players that stood out among the players trying out for a contract, Lewis specifically named named Kansas State linebacker Emmanuel Lamur and Morgan State full back Jourdan Brooks.

"The guys that I thought did a good job were the Kansas State linebacker, (Emmanuel) Lamur and the runner from Morgan State (Jourdan Brooks). There were a couple of other guys that did well. We can't fit everybody in. We might fit a couple in now and look for a couple of other spots later and see what happens."

When asked after Sunday's practice if Lamur is an outside linebacker, Lewis said, "Linebackers are pretty much linebackers, for the most part. If you don't run out there with the first group, you better play everything that you can play."

According to the Bengals.com roster chart, there are currently 85 players on the roster, leaving five spots open on the 90-man roster limit. It's entirely possible that Lamur could be signed, if not both he and Brooks and maybe someone else. However both Geoff Hobson and Joe Reedy have indicated that if a signing is to take place, it won't be until later this week.

As for Tony Pike, Lewis was impressed enough to explore Pike's mental quality while side-stepping the physical descriptions, largely because he's still recovering from surgery.

I thought Tony really progressed well through the weekend. I think he’s still coming back from the surgery; I think he’s still gaining strength and confidence in the arm. That’s something that I think is going to be a process. But with Tony, his ability to handle football, his ability to know where the ball should go – that stands out. He’s got a great disposition about him. From my experience around him this weekend, and even going back to when he was coming out of UC, I think he’ll be able to handle the pressures of playing quarterback in the NFL. It’s not going to get too big for him. I think he showed that this weekend handling things."