Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots , we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.
Today, linebacker Aaron Casey gets the spotlight. The Bengals did not select a single linebacker with any of their 10 picks in this year's NFL Draft, which makes Casey an important player to watch in training camp and the preseason.
Aaron Casey
- Age: 24
- Year: 1st
- Position: Linebacker
- College: Indiana
- Previous Teams: None
- Jersey Number: 44
Casey signed with the Bengals as an undrafted free agent following the 2024 NFL Draft. He spent his entire college career at Indiana, and was a contributor before he even stepped foot onto the field. He was named the special teams scout player of the year during his 2018 redshirt season, and became a special teams staple in 2019 for all 13 games. He wouldn't make his first start until 2021, and then started 11 games in 2022 leading up to an injury right before the final game.
Five years of grinding away earned Casey team captain honors prior to the 2023 season. His coaches voted for him to wear George Taliaferro's #44 jersey . Taliaferro played at Indiana in the 1940s before becoming the first African American to be drafted by the NFL.
Casey started all 12 games and ended up with 109 tackles, becoming the first Hoosier since Tegray Scales in 2016 to rack up 100+ tackles in a season. He was also making plenty of plays behind the line of scrimmage as he finished third in the nation with 20 tackles for loss. Per Indiana, he's the 12th linebacker in program history to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors .
Contract details
Casey signed a three-year college free agent deal with the Bengals in May that will pay him the minimum salary for the 2024 season.
His salary will cost $795,000 for the entire season if he's kept on the team for the entire regular season, but with a $15,000 signing bonus prorated throughout the deal, his cap hit as of now is $800,000 for the year.
Roster chances
Linebacker is not a position that goes deep on the Bengals' roster, which works for and against a guy like Casey. On one hand, he's got an equal chance to be the fifth linebacker on the initial 53-man roster behind starters Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt and reserves Akeem Davis-Gaither and Joe Bachie.
On the other hand, five is probably as deep as the depth chart will go at the position.
Casey brings a tremendous resume for a college free agent. He just turned 24 years old, and carries plenty of leadership qualities the coaching staff cares deeply about. He's also a veteran special teamer (598 career snaps in college), which is critical for a backup linebacker to have. Special teams will be the reason Casey is even active on game days should he make the team.
Casey will compete with another UDFA we'll cover soon along with Devin Harper and Shaka Heyward. All four have pretty equal chances of earning that fifth and final spot as of now.
Chances of making the roster: 25%
Previous player breakdowns
Related: Bengals Roster Breakdown: Cole Burgess has a connection on his side in Cincinnati's receiver haven
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