Cincinnati Bengals Place Two On IR, Both Designated to Return

It's Cincinnati Bengals roster cutdown day! Spoiler alert, Joe Burrow made the team!

All jokes aside, the process of cutting down the roster to 53 resulted in plenty of players losing their jobs and a handful of fringe players saw their NFL dreams come true.

Training Camp had a handful of unfortunate injuries. Amarius Mims was shaken up. Chris Evans and D'Ante Smith both had their 2024 seasons ended before they began.

One player headed to the IR who is designated to return is former first-round pick, Myles Murphy . As a rookie in 2023, Murphy appeared in all 17 games for the Bengals and recorded 20 total tackles with three tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, and three sacks.

Heading into 2024, there was a feeling that Murphy would break out for the Bengals. He certainly has the athletic profile to make noise and was starting to look good down the stretch last year.

The other Bengal to hit the IR with the designation to return is punter, Brad Robbins . Another 2023 NFL Draft pick, Robbins came to Cincinnati by way of Michigan via a sixth-round pick. He battled and beat Drue Chrisman for the punting job.

As a rookie, Robbins launched 76 punts in 2023 for an average of 40.1 yards per punt. His season-long punt of 62 yards was in the ugly loss to the Tennessee Titans.

He had a 6.58% touchback percentage on the year and landed 20 inside the 20 (26.32%).

He was locked in another battle with Ryan Rehkow (who made the initial 53-man roster). Robbins' punt average was third-worst in the NFL, as was his inside-the-20 rate. He was middle of the pack with that 6.58% touchback percentage.