Bengals activate RB Rodney Anderson

The Cincinnati Bengals have activated Rodney Anderson, the team announced Wednesday. He previously opened training camp on the non-football injury list.

This move has been brewing in recent weeks as Anderson has shown great progress in his recovery from a torn ACL, which he sustained early in the 2018 college football season at Oklahoma.

A sixth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, Anderson has just one full season of college football under his belt, but it was a special one. Accounting for 1,442 yards from scrimmage on just 205 touches during Baker Mayfield’s Heisman Trophy-winning season in 2017, Anderson was ready to make his mark as an elite running back prospect in 2018, but an ACL tear ended those hopes and led to him falling late into Day 3 of this year’s draft.

Now, Anderson will compete for a spot on the 53-man roster as the team’s third or fourth running back. Fellow sixth-round running back Trayveon Williams has had a decent showing in training camp thus far, and you have to think the Bengals want to keep both of these guys in the final roster.

However, Anderson and Williams will get competition from Quinton Flowers and Jordan Ellis. There’s also a chance the Bengals keep just three running backs, so Anderson’s roster spot is far from secured as the team begins preseason play Saturday vs. the Chiefs.