Bengals vs Browns: Player connections, former teammates

Many Bengals fans were upset to see Jayson DiManche get waived prior to the start of the 2015 season. DiManche suffered an injury in the final preseason game of the year. The Bengals then placed him on Injured/Reserve during final roster cuts and ended up waiving him before Week 1 with an injury settlement. DiManche landed on Kansas City's practice squad, but Cleveland signed him to their roster in mid-October. DiManche was originally an undrafted player in 2013, signed by the Bengals. He appeared in 28 games with the team, including one start. During those games he had seven tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery on defense. DiManche is most-remembered for his storyline on Hard Knocks and the phone call he made to his mom after Marvin Lewis called him to tell him he made the 2013 squad. DiManche played in Week 7 for the Browns against the St. Louis Rams but only appeared on special teams in the contest.

Here are more connections between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns as well as players on both teams from the two areas.

Ohio area connections

• Bengals K Mike Nugent and LB A.J. Hawk played at Ohio State.
• Browns DL John Hughes III played at the University of Cincinnati and is from Gahanna, Ohio.
• Browns TE Gary Barnidge played at Louisville.
• Bengals OT Dan France (practice squad) is from North Royalton, Ohio.
• Bengals CB Troy Hill (practice squad) is from Youngstown, Ohio.
• Bengals assistant linebackers/quality control coach David Lippincott coached at Bluffton College from 2000-02.
• Browns special teams assistant Shawn Mennenga coached at Western Kentucky in 1997.
• Browns wide receiver coach Joker Phillips coached at University of Cincinnati in 1997-98.
• Browns WR Brian Hartline and DB Donte Whitner played at Ohio State.

Bengals who were Browns

• Bengals HB Cedric Peerman was briefly with the Browns in 2009 but did not play.
• Browns LB Jayson DiManche played for the Bengals in 2013 and 2014.
• Browns WR Andrew Hawkins played with the Bengals from 2011-14.

College teammates

• Browns WR Dwayne Bowe and Bengals OT Andrew Whitworth played together at LSU.
• Browns LB Tank Carder and Bengals QB Andy Dalton played together at TCU.
• Browns CB Joe Haden and Bengals DE Carlos Dunlap played together at Florida.
• Browns LB Barkevious Mingo and Bengals RB Jeremy Hill played together at LSU.
• Browns WR Marlon Moore and Bengals LB Chris Carter played together for two years at Fresno State.
• Browns OT Mitchell Schwartz and Bengals WR Marvin Jones played together at University of California, Berkeley.