LA Chargers: Getting to know the Week 1 opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals

Bengals’ offseason departures

The Bengals made plenty of moves to their roster this past offseason, but they did lose numerous players to free agency or chose to not re-sign them. To start, they released their starting quarterback of nine years, Andy Dalton, who signed with the Dallas Cowboys to be the backup for Dak Prescott.

Tyler Eifert, who was once seen as one of the league’s top tight ends, signed a two-year deal with the Jaguars. Offensive linemen Cordy Glenn, John Miller and John Jerry were all not brought back by the team either.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Bengals lost defensive tackle, Andrew Billings to the Panthers. Linebacker Nick Vigil signed with the LA Chargers. Cornerbacks Darqueze Dennard went to the Falcons, Dre Kirkpatrick to the Cardinals and B.W. Webb, who is currently a free agent were all not re-signed by the team.

None of these departures seem to be too big for the Bengals as their 2019 record indicates. They opted to go younger at multiple positions to help set them up for the future.

The Bengals also had two players opt out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns. Defensive tackle, Josh Tupou who played in all 16 games last year, while starting in seven of them has opted out of the season.

The other player to opt-out was offensive tackle Isaiah Prince. Prince joined the Bengals late in the 2019 season after being released by the Dolphins but has yet to play a game for them and will not be doing so in the 2020 season.