Bengals pick Mitchell Wilcox over Thaddeus Moss

The Cincinnati Bengals included tight end Thaddeus Moss among the group of players waived today to finalize the 53-man roster.

Despite a productive preseason, as well as being a former LSU Tigers teammate of Joe Burrow, Moss apparently didn’t do enough for the coaching staff to feel good about putting him on the 53-man roster. He essentially lost his roster spot to Mitchell Wilcox, who spent most of the 2020 season on the Bengals’ practice squad after going undrafted out of South Florida.

Moss was clearly the Bengals’ best pass-catching tight end in the preseason, but he doesn’t offer much as a blocker or on special teams, an area that Wilcox has done well in.

It’s hard to make a roster as a third tight end if you can’t block or play special teams, so while he flashed as a pass-catcher, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise he was waived.

Saying this, Joe Burrow did go out of his way to praise Moss and even say “I think he’s going to be a big part of this team.” At least we can put that false ‘Burrow gets what he wants’ narrative to bed.

It also won’t help matters that Wilcox has a concussion suffered in Sunday’s preseason loss to the Miami Dolphins. Head coach Zac Taylor confirmed today that Wilcox is still in the concussion protocol.

Here’s to hoping Wilcox is back on the field soon and the Bengals find a way to get Moss back on the practice squad.

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