Cincinnati Bengals' updated 53-man roster projection as training camp officially begins

Excitement is in the air as the Cincinnati Bengals officially report to training camp today. We've got just under seven weeks to go until Week 1 is here.

For the third time this offseason, it's time to project who will be left on the team when the regular season is upon us.

Note: Players with single asterisk (*) are 2024 draft picks and players with double asterisks (**) are 2024 undrafted free agents.

Quarterback (2)

IN : Joe Burrow, Jake Browning
OUT: Logan Woodside, Rocky Lombardi**

The skinny: Congrats to Lombardi for being drafted into the UFL last week . It won't take him out of training camp, but it could be a deciding factor if he wants to stick around on the practice squad for the entire season or not. Cincinnati will want to keep all three of their Burrow backups for the entire remainder of the offseason just in case.

Running back (4)

IN: Zack Moss, Chase Brown, Trayveon Williams, Chris Evans
OUT: Noah Cain**, Elijah Collins**

The skinny: Cain and Collins are both in great spots to take Evans' place on the roster. Moss and Brown certainly aren't going anywhere, and Williams is fairly safe as RB3. Deciding on the fourth back, and whether or not a fourth is even needed, is the first notable roster debate.

Wide receiver (6)

IN: Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Jermaine Burton *, Andrei Iosivas, Trenton Irwin, Charlie Jones
OUT: Kwamie Lassiter II, Shedrick Jackson, Kendric Pryor, Cole Burgess**, Tre Mosley**

The skinny: The real movement to be found here is how the bottom four on the depth chart are sorted by September. Is Burton on track to be the unquestioned WR3, will Iosivas' continued development interrupt that, or will the vet Irwin and his experience put them in their place? Meanwhile Jones lurks in the background with plenty of motivation to disrupt all of this. There might not be room for anyone else at the moment.

Tight end (4)

IN: Mike Gesicki, Drew Sample, Tanner Hudson, Tanner McLachlan*
OUT: Cam Grandy**
NFI: Erick All*

The skinny: While he told reporters he'd be good to go for training camp, the rookie All finds himself on the Non-Football Injury list to start his first camp. There's no telling how long he'll stay on the list, but for the sake of this exercise, we'll assume he stays for the duration of the offseason and be forced to miss the first four games of the season. That makes the four on the active roster very safe.

Offensive line (9)

IN: Orlando Brown Jr., Cordell Volson, Ted Karras, Alex Cappa, Trent Brown, Amarius Mims *, Cody Ford, Matt Lee*, Jackson Carman
OUT: D'Ante Smith, Trey Hill, Devin Cochran, Jaxson Kirkland, Nate Gilliam, Eric Miller**

The skinny: It sure sounds like the door is open for Mims to become the Week 1 starter over Brown, but Brown will be very safe to make the team even if the 18th overall pick starts right away. Of the projected cuts, Hill would be the most likely to stick around as he's done so for the past three years.

Defensive line (10)

IN: Trey Hendrickson, Sheldon Rankins, B.J. Hill, Sam Hubbard, Myles Murphy, Kris Jenkins*, McKinnley Jackson*, Cam Sample, Joseph Ossai, Zach Carter
OUT: Jeff Gunter, Jay Tufele, Domenique Davis, Cedric Johnson*, Devonnsha Maxwell, Travis Bell, Justin Blazek**

The skinny: Seven roster locks in my eyes means three players with much to lose. Sample, Ossai, and Carter all need to put their best foot forward in order to hold off the likes of Tufele, Davis, and Johnson.

Linebacker (5)

IN: Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, Akeem Davis-Gaither, Joe Bachie, Devin Harper
OUT: Shaka Heyward, Aaron Casey**, Maema Njongmeta**

The skinny: One benefit of doing a daily roster breakdown series is finding out the contract details of each player. Upon going over Harper , I learned he actually has two years remaining on his deal. That could be incentive for the Bengals to keep him on the team. Heyward, Casey and Njongmeta will all be gunning for him regardless.

Cornerback (6)

IN: Cam Taylor-Britt, Dax Hill, Mike Hilton, DJ Turner II, Josh Newton , Jalen Davis
OUT: Allan George, Lance Robinson**
PUP: DJ Ivey

The skinny: The last roster projection only had five corners making it through to account for Ivey's eventual return from the Physically Unable to Perform list. Ivey could take a while to be fully healthy with his torn ACL being just eight months ago, so going with six for the active roster feels fair.

Safety (4)

IN: Geno Stone, Vonn Bell, Jordan Battle, Tycen Anderson
OUT: Daijahn Anthony*, P.J. Jules**, Michael Dowell**

The skinny: This is chalk until proven otherwise. Let's continue.

Specialists (3)

IN: Evan McPherson, Austin McNamara**, Cal Adomitis
OUT: Brad Robbins

The skinny: The most 50-50 battle on the team is at punter, and the incumbent has lost the last two battles. Let's see what McNamara can do.

Related: Answering the 5 most important questions heading into Cincinnati Bengals training camp