Bengals roster cuts: Cincinnati releases offensive guard Alex Cooper

Cincinnati is whittling down its roster to get to the 53-man number and the latest on the chopping block was offensive guard Alex Cooper. Katherine Terrell of ESPN initially the news, and it’s currently unclear whether or not the team will attempt to get him on the practice squad.

Cooper received a lot of snaps with the backup units throughout preseason, and even though he seemed to be a guy molded into a player offensive line coach Paul Alexander usually covets, there just wasn’t room for him.

Cooper was an undrafted rookie free agent pickup out of the University of Houston. He did show the versatility trait that the Bengals love in college, starting 25 straight games at every position on the Cougars’ offensive line, except for center. He didn’t allow a sack while at UH and only gave up eight quarterback pressures in his collegiate career. Of course, the NFL is a much different game than college football, and it seems the Bengals didn’t see enough from Cooper for him to make the cut.

The Bengals did give him some looks at center in summer workouts, but it came with mixed results. The coaching staff really likes fifth round 2016 draft pick Christian Westerman, which further made Cooper expendable to Cincinnati.