The Cincinnati Bengals blew everyone’s mind when they traded their No. 10 overall selection to the Giants in exchange for nose tackle Dexter Lawrence. That move reshaped the entire defense.
Having the best interior defensive lineman in the game on the roster creates a ripple effect that goes all the way to the secondary, and it creates a deep rotation of defensive tackles that can hopefully stay healthy late into the year.
TJ Slaton, who signed with the Bengals last offseason as a free agent nose tackle,
not only dropped on the depth chart, but fans and analysts alike named him as someone who could be cut, either to make room for someone else or to save about $6.6 million against the cap.
The 28-year-old is heading into Year 6 of his career, and he knows there is a business side to the league.
“Just putting one foot after the other—it is what it is,” he told WLWT’s Charlie Clifford. “It is a business at the end of the day, and you have to control the things that you can control. If I can show up here every day, work hard, put my best foot forward, and have a good attitude, then that is what I’m going to do.”
Slaton is in a room that now includes Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, BJ Hill, Kris Jenkins, McKinnley Jackson, Howard Cross III, Jordan Jefferson, and Landon Robinson at the defensive tackle position. There’s no way all those faces will be around when final cuts are being made. They only kept five defensive tackles on the 53-man roster last season, which means at least two are likely going to be cut.
Do you think Slaton will be cut, or do you think he’ll be in stripes when the season starts?
