Brothers-in-law Eifert, Martin highlight connections between Bengals, Cowboys

The Bengals and Cowboys don’t play each other often and don’t share too many connections. Though, there are many Bengals players who are from or played college in the Lone Star state. Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton will be returning home to play nearby to where he played college football at Texas Christian University and less than four hours from his hometown of Katy, Texas.

Bengals who were Cowboys

• Bengals CB Adam Jones played for the Cowboys in 2008.

Cowboys who were Bengals

• Cowboys G Emmett Cleary was on the Bengals practice squad in 2014.

College teammates

• Cowboys C Travis Frederick and Bengals G Kevin Zeitler were college teammates at Wisconsin.
• Bengals TE Tyler Eifert and Cowboys G Zack Martin were college teammates (and roommates) and Notre Dame... More on that below.
• Cowboys QB Mark Sanchez and Bengals LB Rey Maualuga were college teammates at USC.

Family connections

• Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert and Cowboys offensive guard Zack Martin were college roommates at Notre Dame and now, are brothers-in-law. Eifert’s sister married Martin over the summer. Eifert introduced them during college. Here’s a picture from Martin’s bachelor party:

“I’ve got some people on both sides of the family coming in,” Martin said this week. “Normal is kind of just like my parents or some buddies. But this week her whole family, my whole family and some family friends. It’ll be fun weekend.”

Unfortunately, Eifert won’t be playing on Sunday, so his family won’t be able to see him in action for the first time in 2016.

Local connections

• Bengals QB Andy Dalton played at Texas Christian University.
• Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott played at Ohio State.
• Cowboys CB Deji Olatoye is from Dublin, Ohio .
• Cowboys FB Rod Smith played at Ohio State.
• Cowboys TE Austin Traylor is from Columbus, Ohio.
• Bengals CB Chykie Brown and OT Trey Hopkins (practice squad) played at the University of Texas.
• Bengals OT Cedric Ogbuehi played at Texas A&M and is from Allen, Texas.
• Bengals RB Rex Burkhead is from Plano, Texas.
• Bengals DT Andrew Billings (Reserve/Injured) is from Waco, Texas and played at Baylor.
• Bengals RB Tra Carson (practice squad) played at Texas A&M and is from Texarkana, Texas.
• Bengals running backs coach Kyle Caskey is from Daingerfield, Texas and played at Texas A&M.
• Bengals offensive quality control/offensive line coach Robert Couch is from Plainview, Texas, and has coached in high school in the Dallas area.

Coaching connections

• Cowboys TEs coach Michael Pope was TEs coach for the Bengals from 1992-93.