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Most of the current members of the Cincinnati Bengals roster have gone through the Underwear Olympics otherwise known as the NFL Scouting Combine.
There have been great and memorable moments, such as Margus Hunt churning out results like he was Hercules' younger brother, and the less flattering but just as memorable moments like Andre Smith going AWOL, before subsequently "wowing" viewers with a flabby forty at Alabama’s pro-day.
Looking at the Bengals’ current roster, here are the team’s best and worst performers for each of the measurable categories.
Height
Margus Hunt 6’8"
Andrew Whitworth, Eric Winston, Michael Johnson 6’7"
...
Giovani Bernard, Mario Alford 5’8"
Margus "I will break you" Hunt measured in as the tallest Bengal. Although he has yet to break into the starting lineup. He measured a full foot taller than the team’s shortest combine participants, Bernard and Alford.
Weight
Andrew Whitworth 334 lbs
Andre Smith 332 lbs
...
Brandon Tate 183 lbs
Mario Alford 180 lbs
Interestingly, only Whitworth and Smith measured above 314 pounds at the combine. Other than these two, the Bengals have seemingly steered clear of the kids who showed up at the combine with massive bodies. On the other end of the scale, the Bengals have eight players who weighed in under 200 pounds, and all of them were wide receivers and defensive backs.
40 Yard Dash
Leon Hall 4.41 seconds
Mario Alford 4.43 seconds
...
T.J. Johnson 5.33 seconds
Kevin Zeitler 5.39 seconds
Apparently the Bengals are not suckers for workout warriors in the speed category, as no players on the Bengals’ current roster blazed a sub 4.4 time in the 40 yard dash. Their fastest non-wide receiver, and non-defensive back was Cedric Peerman with a 4.45 time.
Zeitler holds the distinction as the Bengal with the slowest combine speed. The slowest non-lineman was Vontaze Burfict with a 5.09 time, which was slower than offensive linemen Eric Winston and Jake Fisher, and actually tied with 310 pound defensive tackle Pat Sims.
225 pound bench press
Russell Bodine 42 reps
Margus Hunt 38 reps
...
Darqueze Dennard 15 reps
Mario Alford 13 reps
As Bodine and Hunt can attest to, the bench press doesn’t seem to have any relevance in correlating the number of repetitions to on the field success in the NFL. It’s hard to call Alford the "weakest" Bengal, as a dozen of the current players who attended the combine chose not to participate in the event. None of the quarterbacks attempted the bench press.
Vertical Jump
Cedric Peerman, A.J. Hawk 40.0"
Rex Burkhead 39.0"
...
T.J. Johnson 25.5"
Whoever said "white men can’t jump" hasn’t seen the Bengals’ roster. Two of the team’s three best vertical jumpers, Hawk and Burkhead, seem to break that mold.
Except for those who skipped every activity for medical reasons, the vertical jump was the only combine event in which every Bengals player participated.
Broad Jump
Josh Shaw 10’10"
Michael Johnson 10’8"
...
T.J. Johnson 8’0"
I think we all knew that Josh Shaw could jump, since he was made infamous for claiming he jumped out of a second story window to save his nephew from drowning in a pool. For what it’s worth, T.J. Johnson just wasn’t built to jump. He has the shortest broad jump and shortest vertical jump on the team. And he wasn’t really close to the next worst jumper in either category.
20 Yard Shuttle
A.J. Hawk 3.96 seconds
George Iloka 4.03 seconds
Interestingly, it is a linebacker who leads the Bengals in this speed category, and not one of the smaller receivers or defensive backs. Apparently, the 20 yard shuttle is pointless, as Iloka’s stellar time was unable to undo the damage of a 4.66 time in the forty yard dash, which led him to drop on draft weekend.
3-Cone Drill
Leon Hall 6.50 seconds
Mario Alford 6.64 seconds
...
Andrew Whitworth 8.23
Russell Bodine 8.26
Whitworth and Bodine were the only two Bengals with times slower than 8 seconds. In fact, they were almost two seconds slower than Leon Hall’s team best speed
The Bengals' roster is listed below with their combine results. They are grouped by positional category, and sorted by 40 yard dash time.
| height | weight | 40 yard | verticle jump | long jump | 20 yard shuttle | 3-cone | ||
| Andy Dalton | QB | 6' 2" | 215 | 4.93 | 29.5" | 8' 10" | 4.27 | 6.93 |
| A.J. McCarron | QB | 6' 3" | 220 | 4.94 | 28.0" | 8' 3" | 4.34 | 7.18 |
| Keith Wenning | QB | 6' 3" | 218 | 5.00 | 28.0" | 8' 4" | 4.25 | 7.07 |
Dalton seems to be the best athlete of the Bengals' quarterbacks.
| htwt | weight | 40 yd | 225 pound reps | vertical jump | long jump | 20 yard shuttle | 3-cone | ||
| Mario Alford | WR | 5' 8" | 180 | 4.43 | 13 | 34.0" | 10' 1" | 4.07 | 6.64 |
| Cedric Peerman | RB | 5' 9" | 216 | 4.45 | 27 | 40.0" | 9' 9" | 4.29 | 6.99 |
| Marvin Jones | WR | 6' 2" | 199 | 4.46 | 22 | 33.0" | 9' 4" | 4.11 | 6.81 |
| A.J. Green | WR | 6' 4" | 211 | 4.49 | 18 | 34.5" | 10' 6" | 4.21 | 6.91 |
| Giovani Bernard | RB | 5' 8" | 202 | 4.53 | 19 | 33.5" | 10' 2" | 4.12 | 6.91 |
| Jeremy Hill | RB | 6' 1" | 233 | 4.66 | 20 | 29.0" | 9' 5" | - | - |
| Mohamed Sanu | WR | 6' 1" | 211 | 4.67 | 19 | 36.0" | 10' 6" | 4.22 | 6.88 |
| Tyler Eifert | TE | 6' 5" | 250 | 4.68 | 22 | 34.5" | 9' 11" | 4.32 | 6.92 |
| Rex Burkhead | RB | 6' 1" | 214 | 4.73 | 21 | 39.0" | 10' 5" | 4.09 | 6.85 |
| Ryan Hewitt | RB | 6' 4" | 246 | 4.87 | - | 33.0" | 9' 1" | 4.35 | 7.04 |
| Tyler Kroft | TE | 6' 5" | 246 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Brandon Tate | WR | 6 0" | 183 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Alford wins the fast/shifty guy award, if such an award exists. It will be interesting to see if he can become an Andrew Hawkins type of receiver. Also of note, is that wide receiver A.J. Green did not stand out as rather spectacular in any category, but that has not prevented him from becoming an elite NFL receiver. Both Kroft and Tate were injured, and did not participate.
| ht | wt | 40 yd | 225 pound reps | vert jump | long jump | 20 yrd shuttle | 3-cone | ||
| Eric Winston | OL | 6' 7" | 310 | 4.96 | - | 29.0" | 9' 0" | 4.44 | 7.47 |
| Jake Fisher | OL | 6' 6" | 306 | 5.01 | 25 | 32.5" | - | 4.33 | 7.25 |
| Andrew Whitworth | OL | 6' 7" | 334 | 5.15 | 28 | 30.5" | 9' 4" | 4.83 | 8.23 |
| Russell Bodine | OL | 6' 3" | 310 | 5.18 | 42 | 29.0" | 9' 1" | 4.66 | 8.26 |
| Clint Boling | OL | 6' 5" | 308 | 5.30 | 28 | 31.0" | 8' 6" | 4.64 | 7.66 |
| T.J. Johnson | OL | 6' 4" | 310 | 5.33 | 32 | 25.5" | 8' 0" | 4.74 | 7.83 |
| Kevin Zeitler | OL | 6' 4" | 314 | 5.39 | 32 | 29.0" | 8' 5" | 4.61 | 7.77 |
| Andre Smith | OL | 6' 4" | 332 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Cedric Ogbuehi | OL | 6' 5" | 306 | - | 23 | - | - | - | - |
Poor T.J. Johnson lags the team in just about every category. Andre Smith did not participate because he went AWOL. Ogbuehi was recovering from an injury. Bodine, the shortest lineman on the team, easily led the group in bench press.
| ht | wt | 40 yd | 225 pound reps | vert jump | long jump | 20 yrd shuttle | 3-cone | ||
| Margus Hunt | DL | 6' 8" | 277 | 4.60 | 38 | 34.5" | 10' 1" | 4.51 | 7.07 |
| Carlos Dunlap | DL | 6' 6" | 277 | 4.71 | 21 | 31.5" | 9' 3" | 4.61 | 7.21 |
| Michael Johnson | DL | 6' 7" | 266 | 4.75 | 28 | 38.5" | 10' 8" | 4.37 | 7.42 |
| Will Clarke | DL | 6' 6" | 271 | 4.77 | 22 | 32.0" | 9' 4" | 4.57 | 7.26 |
| Geno Atkins | DL | 6' 1" | 293 | 4.85 | 34 | 33.0" | 9' 9" | 4.43 | 7.33 |
| Wallace Gilberry | DL | 6' 2" | 268 | 5.00 | 19 | - | - | - | - |
| Pat Sims | DL | 6' 2" | 310 | 5.09 | 20 | 27.0" | - | - | - |
| Domata Peko | DL | 6' 3" | 307 | 5.25 | 25 | 28.5" | 8' 7" | 4.49 | 7.69 |
| Brandon Thompson | DL | 6' 2" | 314 | - | 35 | 31.0" | 8' 4" | 4.71 | 7.97 |
| Marcus Hardison | DL | 6' 3" | 307 | - | 27 | - | - | - | - |
Margus Hunt is the team's "workout warrior", with a huge lead over the competition. Geno Atkins' combine performance was rather uninspiring, yet he's turned into one of the league's top defensive tackles.
| ht | wt | 40 yd | 225 pound reps | vert jump | long jump | 20 yrd shuttle | 3-cone | ||
| A.J. Hawk | LB | 6' 1" | 248 | 4.65 | 24 | 40.0" | 9' 7" | 3.96 | 6.82 |
| Rey Maualuga | LB | 6' 2" | 249 | 4.91 | 23 | - | 8' 11" | - | - |
| P.J. Dawson | LB | 6 0" | 235 | 4.93 | 21 | 28.0" | 9' 1" | 4.49 | - |
| Vontaze Burfict | LB | 6' 1" | 248 | 5.09 | - | 30.0" | 8' 8" | - | - |
If anyone wonders why the Green Bay Packers reached for A.J. Hawk in the draft, it seems that perhaps his great combine performance may have helped them make that decision.
| ht | wt | 40 yd | 225 pound reps | vert jump | long jump | 20 yrd shuttle | 3-cone | ||
| Leon Hall | DB | 5' 11" | 193 | 4.41 | 15 | 37.5" | 10' 5" | 4.07 | 6.50 |
| Josh Shaw | DB | 6 0" | 201 | 4.44 | 26 | 37.5" | 10' 10" | 4.12 | 7.01 |
| Shawn Williams | DB | 6 0" | 213 | 4.46 | 25 | 36.0" | 10' 0" | 4.25 | 7.01 |
| Darqueze Dennard | DB | 5' 11" | 199 | 4.51 | 15 | - | - | - | - |
| Reggie Nelson | DB | 5' 11" | 198 | 4.56 | - | 34.5" | - | - | - |
| Dre Kirkpatrick | DB | 6' 2" | 186 | 4.57 | - | 35.0" | 10' 0" | - | - |
| George Iloka | DB | 6' 4" | 225 | 4.66 | 20 | 34.5" | 10' 4" | 4.03 | 7.03 |
| Adam Jones | DB | 5' 9" | 187 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Derron Smith | DB | 5' 10" | 200 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Jones had great numbers at his Pro Day, but opted to avoid working out at the combine.
There are a few Bengals who were not invited to the combine. Interestingly, the linebacker corps are highly represented, perhaps showing the Bengals’ philosophy at that position. Some current Bengals who were not at the combine in the year they were draft eligible include DL DeShawn Williams, LB Jayson DiManche, LB Marquis Flowers, LB Emmanuel Lamur, LB, Vincent Rey, TE C.J. Uzomah, WR Jake Kumerow, WR James Wright.