The Bengals head into Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in good shape health-wise, but that doesn’t make the inactive list any easier. Cincinnati can dress only 48 players, and with a roster this deep, a few tough calls are coming.
The biggest name expected to sit is Shemar Stewart, who is listed as doubtful while he continues to deal with the injury he picked up in training camp. The early scare turned out not to be as bad as it looked, and his freaky athleticism kept him from landing on injured reserve. Still, there’s no real reason to push the 2025 first-round pick back into action with so much depth on the defensive line.
One spot that looks headed for frustration is along the defensive tackle rotation. Landon Robinson is likely to be the odd man out as Kris Jenkins Jr. takes the last available role there.
The logic is simple enough: Jenkins was a 2024 second-round pick, while Robinson is a rookie seventh-rounder. The source view is that Robinson is already the better player, and by a fair margin, but he may have to wait to prove it.
At tackle, Myles Hinton’s arrival after 53-man roster cuts shifts the picture. That makes Javon Foster the likeliest active swing tackle. There’s at least an argument for Jalen Rivers to be active as insurance, but the preference here is for Jacob Bayer, who looks like he can actually play guard.
Another rookie projected to be on the inactive list is tight end Jack Endries. He’s described as a stud, a willing blocker who showed that in college and caught passes from Fernando Mendoza and Arch Manning. The big stage doesn’t seem to bother him, which makes his fall to the seventh round hard to explain.
That leaves Drew Sample, whose role continues to draw eye rolls. The expectation is that he’ll keep seeing significant snaps, even if that still feels like the Bengals are burning a roster spot every year.
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Joe Burrow Incident Keeps Bengals Opener Under The NFL Spotlight
Joe Burrow and the Bengals got the kind of start they wanted in 2026, opening the season at home with a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cincinnati held its lead through the game and came away with the victory, but one sequence involving Burrow drew extra attention well beyond the final score.
Tampa Bay safety Tykee Smith was flagged for a late hit on Burrow, and the NFL is now reviewing the play for possible fines. It is the sort of postgame wrinkle that can linger after an opener, especially when the league is still sorting out how it wants to handle contact on a quarterback who matters as much to his team as Burrow does to the Bengals. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Rookie Gave Week 1 A Feel-Good Moment Fans Loved
Landon Robinson brought a different kind of presence to his first NFL game Sunday, showing up at the stadium in his Navy Service Dress Blue uniform before the Bengals faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The rookie defensive lineman, a seventh-round pick out of Navy, made Cincinnatis 53-man roster as interior depth and was inactive for Week 1, but his arrival still stood out to fans who got a glimpse of the former service academy player beginning his pro career.
Robinsons path already has a local angle, too, since he is from Copley, Ohio, and he arrived in Cincinnati with a decorated college rsum that included being named the 2025 AAC Defensive Player of the Year. Even without taking the field on opening weekend, he gave the Bengals a feel-good moment that fit the kind of story fans tend to remember early in a season, especially with a rookie whose journey has already been anything but ordinary. [Read more 🡒]
Baker Mayfield Just Handed Bengals Fans A Brutal Reminder
Baker Mayfield gave Cincinnati plenty to enjoy in Week 1, but not in the way a Buccaneers quarterback normally would. Tampa Bays opener turned on a series of costly mistakes, with Mayfield coughing up the ball three times and helping set the tone for a Bengals win that never really felt out of reach once the turnovers started piling up.
For Bengals fans, it was a familiar kind of relief after a summer of watching another teams big contract and big expectations attached to Mayfield in Tampa. His new three-year deal keeps him in place for the long haul, but Sunday was a reminder that even with that kind of security, the margin for error is still razor thin when the ball keeps coming loose. [Read more 🡒]