Cincinnati Bengals News & Rumors

Chargers, Cardinals Tried To Claim Jonah Williams

New Vikings defensive end Jonah Williams was pretty popular on the waiver wire. After he was cut by the Rams, the Chargers and Cardinals also submitted claims on him. (Twitter link via Field Yates of ESPN.com). 

[RELATED: Rams Have Discussed Extension With Miller’s Camp]

The Vikings won out, thanks to their 3-4 record. As a refresher, the league’s waiver priority goes by inverted current season record at this stage of the league year, rather than previous year’s record. Therefore, the Chargers (4-3) and Cardinals (7-1) were further down the list.

Williams, 26, saw time in all eight of the Rams’ games before he was cut loose. If not for the arrival of Von Miller, the Rams likely would have kept him for the year. Miller marks a significant upgrade for the Rams’ front seven and they’re already discussing his future beyond 2021.

The Vikings could still use some DL support, now that Danielle Hunter has been ruled out for the year with a torn pectoral muscle. The Cardinals — who are without J.J. Watt — will also keep an eye out for available linemen.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/30/21

Here is the Week 8 Saturday minor move blitz:

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets 

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/23/21

Here is the run of Week 7 Saturday minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

  • Promoted: LB Darius Harris, LB Christian Rozeboom
  • Placed on IR: TE Jody Fortson

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

New York Jets

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Trae Waynes Facing Lengthy Absence

Injuries have defined Trae Waynes‘ Cincinnati stay, and the veteran cornerback’s most recent issue stands to keep him out a while. Already on IR with a hamstring problem, Waynes is facing an extended absence.

Zac Taylor said Friday that Waynes will not need to undergo surgery for his troublesome hamstring, via The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. (on Twitter), but the third-year Bengals HC does not expect the team’s top cornerback investment to be back after missing the minimum three games. An extended IR stay is likely for Waynes.

This is certainly not new ground for the former first-round pick. Waynes missed all of 2020 because of a torn pec. This year, a hamstring pull kept him out of the Bengals’ first three games. Waynes subsequently aggravated his hamstring in Week 5, leading to an IR trip.

The Bengals signed Waynes to a three-year, $42MM deal in March 2020. This price proved somewhat surprising at the time, given Waynes’ performance to that point, but the ex-Vikings starter had stayed mostly healthy in Minnesota. The 29-year-old cover man has played just two games with Cincinnati, however.

Since signing Waynes, the Bengals have been busy at corner. They added Chidobe Awuzie and slot defender Mike Hilton this offseason and recently claimed multiyear Seahawks starter Tre Flowers. The Bengals have made notable improvements defensively this season, after two bad years to start the Taylor regime. Cincinnati enters Week 7 fifth in scoring defense.

Waynes is attached to an $8.4MM base salary this season; that number climbs to $10.4MM in 2022. The Bengals are on the hook for Waynes’ prorated signing bonus ($5MM) next year but could save $11MM by making the seven-year vet a cap casualty.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/21/21

Today’s minor moves:

Cincinnati Bengals

New Orleans Saints

Philadelphia Eagles

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/16/21

The Week 6 Saturday minor move blitz:

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Football Team

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/15/21

Today’s minor moves:

Cincinnati Bengals

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

New York Giants

Washington Football Team

Bengals Claim CB Tre Flowers

The Bengals added a cornerback with extensive starting experience Thursday, doing so without giving up an asset. They claimed Tre Flowers off waivers.

The Seahawks cut Flowers earlier this week, ending a three-plus-season tenure. That run included 40 starts, with three of those coming this season. Flowers fell out of favor with the team recently, being benched for Sidney Jones. Flowers will have the opportunity to rebuild his stock in Cincinnati.

Flowers’ rookie contract runs through the end of this season. The Bengals have considerable capital invested at corner, with veteran free agency additions Trae Waynes, Chidobe Awuzie and Mike Hilton on the team. Waynes, however, has been unable to stay healthy and is currently on IR with a hamstring injury.

When targeted in coverage the past two seasons, Flowers has struggled. Quarterbacks who threw Flowers’ way compiled a collective 78% completion rate in 2020 and a 77% success rate this season. Though, those coverage sample sizes were smaller compared to Flowers’ first two years, when he started a combined 30 games for the Seahawks in the wake of Richard Sherman‘s departure. As a full-time starter in 2019, Flowers allowed QBs to complete 60% of their passes when he was in coverage. Despite being targeted 101 times, the 6-foot-3 corner only gave up one touchdown in 2019.

Pete Carroll said Wednesday that Flowers did not request a Seattle departure, but the 12th-year Seahawks HC indicated it was time for a separation. Flowers will head to a Bengals team that, at 3-2, is off to its best start in three years.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/13/21

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the day:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

New England Patriots

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Bengals Move CB Trae Waynes To IR

By October’s end, Trae Waynes will have played in just two of the Bengals’ past 24 games. The veteran cornerback is heading to IR with a hamstring injury, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.

Waynes aggravated the hamstring issue that previously forced him to miss Cincinnati’s first three games this season. The former Vikings cornerback missed all of last year.

The Bengals paid Waynes handsomely last year, signing the former first-round pick to a three-year, $42MM deal. That pact has not worked out to this point. Waynes missed the 2020 season due to a torn pectoral muscle suffered last August. He will now be down for the next three Bengals games. Waynes, 29, missed just six games over the course of his five-year Vikings tenure.

Cincinnati was busy at cornerback this year, adding outside cover man Chidobe Awuzie and slot man Mike Hilton in free agency. Neither’s deal is in Waynes’ ballpark, however, with Awuzie signing for $7.25MM per year and Hilton leaving Pittsburgh for $6MM on average. The Bengals let William Jackson walk in free agency rather than use its franchise tag to retain him.