Jeff Gunter, the Cincinnati Bengals' seventh round pick from the 2022 NFL Draft, has officially retired from the NFL.
The Bengals placed Gunter on the Reserve/Retired list Wednesday afternoon.
Gunter was an edge defender for the Bengals who played in 10 games during his rookie season in 2022. That momentum was stifled the following offseason as he was waived leading up to the 2023 season. He was signed back to the practice squad where he remained for the entire season. The team brought him back on a one-year at the start of this offseason.
What's odd is Gunter being the second seventh-round selection of the Bengals to retire very early in his career. Wyatt Hubert, the club's seventh-round pick from 2021 who was also an edge defender, retired after just one season back in 2022.
The reasoning for Gunter's sudden retirement at the age of is unknown, but the impact on the Bengals' roster can be deciphered very easily.
Jeff Gunter's retirement has one major beneficiary
Gunter was competing for a roster spot as the fifth edge defender for the defensive line. Five is typically the number Cincinnati rocks with when the roster gets down to 53 players , and with other positions needing more attention, it was hard to see more than five make it on the edge this year.
The main competitor going against Gunter was Cedric Johnson, one of the team's sixth-round picks from this year's draft. Johnson now becomes the favorite to win the job with Gunter gone, and Cam Sample out for the year with an Achilles tear.
If you're unfamiliar with Johnson, that's understandable. He wasn't drafted until 214 picks into April's draft. He started 29 games at Ole Miss during his three-year college career, and is the youngest player now on the Bengals.
He also stood out in a positive way in his preseason debut last weekend, recording a sack and tackle for loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past Saturday.
One could argue that Johnson was likely to beat out Gunter for the fifth edge spot for multiple reasons. Johnson was drafted more recently and earlier in comparison, which means the team has more years on his contract to use. Johnson also tested really well in terms of speed and explosion, and since he was already three years younger than Gunter, there's more upside to work with.
Had Johnson done just as well, if not better than Gunter for the remainder of the preseason, the job would've likely went to the rookie anyways. Now that Gunter is saying goodbye to football, no one is likely to stand in Johnson's way for a roster spot.
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