Cincinnati Bengals Expected To Cut “Explosive” Wide Receiver In Difficult Roster Move

This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

The Cincinnati Bengals opened their preseason with a win over the Detroit Lions on Thursday. While winning feels great, the real focus was on the players battling to make the final regular-season roster.

A few players fighting for a roster spot helped themselves in the first preseason game, while others really didn’t, and wide receiver Kendric Pryor definitely finds himself in that second group.

Pryor did not play against Detroit, and that absence created more questions about where he stands in a crowded Bengals wide receiver room. As the team moves closer to final roster cuts, competition continues to tighten.

Kendric Pryor Faces Tough Roster Battle

In an updated 53-man roster projection, Bengals on SI reporter Jay Morrison predicted the Bengals would move forward without Pryor on the active roster.

Morrison projected Cincinnati to keep Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Andrei Iosivas, Colbie Young, Mitch Tinsley, and Dohnte Meyers. He pointed to strong performances from players competing for the final receiver spots.

“The battle for the final spot will be more about kick/punt returner duties than receiving, with Williams firing the first salvo in the battle with an impressive 48-yard kick return against the Lions. But then there’s Dohnte Meyers, who just continues to make plays,” Morrison wrote.

Meyers led the team in receiving yards during the preseason opener. He also added an 11-yard punt return and a 13-yard run on a jet sweep. Those plays helped strengthen his case for a roster spot.

Morrison also noted, “The Bengals have kept at least six receivers in 19 of the last 20 seasons, with the lone exception being 2022 when they kept just five (Chase, Higgins, Tyler Boyd, Stanley Morgan Jr. and Trent Taylor).” Even with that history, Pryor still faces a difficult path.

Pryor returned to Cincinnati this offseason after spending several years around the organization. He originally joined the Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2022. The Jaguars claimed him after Cincinnati waived him, but he returned following Jacksonville’s roster cuts in 2023.

Before the 2022 NFL Draft, SB Nation’s Owen Riese hyped Pryor as “an explosive athlete” with strong hands and experience both outside and in the slot.

Despite that potential, Pryor has struggled to lock down a permanent spot on the 53-man roster. A to Z Sports reporter John Sheeran recently gave him just a 10% shot at making the final cut, noting that the Bengals mainly see him as a practice squad depth piece to call up when injuries hit.

But Pryor still has a few preseason games left to change minds.