Share This Article
Article Summary:
The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Philadelphia Eagles 30-13 on Aug. 28, 2026, completing their first undefeated preseason since 2006 and the first of the Zac Taylor era. Cincinnati must reduce its roster to 53 players by 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 30, with waiver claims processing at 1 p.m. Monday. Players with fewer than four accrued seasons go on waivers and can be claimed by any team, while vested veterans such as 40-year-old quarterback Josh Johnson become free agents immediately.
The Bengals finished the preseason undefeated for the first time in 20 years with a 30-13 win in Philadelphia.
Now Cincinnati has until 6 p.m. Sunday to cut 37 players.
The Bengals 53-man roster cuts land earlier than usual this year, because the league moved the deadline up two days.
Cincinnati closed out Friday night at Lincoln Financial Field with 211 rushing yards, three sacks and an interception, according to the team’s recap. Zac Taylor got the fourth-quarter ball-control drive he had been asking for all August. Fans at Bengals watch parties around the city saw a backup offensive line hold the football for more than ten minutes to end it.
Then the fun part ended.
Twenty Years, and a Shorter Road
The 2006 Bengals went 4-0 in the preseason. This year’s team went 3-0, because the league now plays three exhibition games instead of four.
So the streak is real, but the comparison is not clean. Cincinnati needed one fewer win to match a mark it had chased for two decades.
Taylor still counted it. His teams had never gone unbeaten in a preseason before Friday.
Ke’Shawn Williams Answered the Receiver Question
Cincinnati’s first touchdown of the night settled an argument that had run all camp.
Ke’Shawn Williams caught an 11-yard scoring pass from Sean Clifford, spinning free at the three-yard line to reach the pylon. He finished with four catches for 39 yards and a seven-yard punt return, per the team’s postgame notes.
In fact, he did it 90 minutes from where he grew up.
Williams attended Springside Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, and Friday marked his first game in front of his hometown crowd since high school. Roughly 50 people came. “Everytime I looked around, I saw somebody I knew,” Williams said.
One correction for anyone reading national coverage: a Sports Illustrated live blog identified Williams as a Cincinnati native during the game. He is not. Pro Football Reference, ESPN and his own recruiting file all list Philadelphia.
Charlie Jones answered back with catches of 17 and 19 yards plus a 31-yard punt return. Dohnte Meyers caught three passes for 51 yards before the coaches pulled him. Mitchell Tinsley added a 31-yard grab.
Four receivers, and not four spots on the Bengals 53-man roster.
The Rule That Decides Who Comes Back
Most cutdown coverage skips the next part, and it matters more than any stat line above.
Cincinnati does not simply release 37 players into the same pool. The league sorts them into two groups, and the group determines who controls the next 19 hours.
Players with fewer than four accrued seasons go on waivers. Any of the other 31 teams can claim them, and claims process at 1 p.m. Monday. Until then, those players wait.
Veterans with four or more accrued seasons skip waivers entirely. They become free agents the moment Cincinnati lets them go, and they can sign anywhere that night.
As a result, that split runs straight through every Bengals 53-man decision this weekend.
What the Split Means for Josh Johnson
Josh Johnson is 40 years old and in his 14th NFL season. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 156 yards Friday with an 88.9 rating. If Cincinnati cuts him, no team claims him, because no team has to. He walks.
Meyers, Jamal Haynes, Kentrell Bullock, Tacario Davis and Landon Robinson do not get that option. Each of them sits on the wire Sunday night while 31 front offices decide.
Teams can then rebuild depth through a 17-player practice squad, and clubs overwhelmingly re-sign their own cuts. Clearing waivers is the price of admission.
Williams Has Already Lived Every Step of It
Cincinnati’s touchdown scorer is the best available illustration of the machinery.
Pittsburgh signed Williams as an undrafted rookie in April 2025. The Steelers waived him on Aug. 26 as part of final cuts, then brought him back on the practice squad. They promoted him to the active roster on Oct. 11.
On Dec. 15 they waived him again. Cincinnati claimed him the next day, per the Bengals’ own transaction notice.
Two teams have waived Friday’s touchdown scorer, one practice squad carried him and one front office claimed him, all within 16 months. He also still carries only one accrued season, which means he goes back through waivers if the Bengals cut him Sunday.
Nobody in the Cincinnati locker room needs the process explained.
Two Undrafted Backs Scrambled the RB3 Race
The draft-week assumption held that Tahj Brooks would win the third running back job by default. Friday complicated that.
Bullock ran 14 times for 85 yards and scored on a six-yard run, and he broke off a 25-yarder along the way. Haynes added 78 yards and a touchdown on seven carries, including a 39-yard run that put the game away.
Both men arrived without draft status. Haynes came out of Georgia Tech as an undrafted rookie who played receiver in college. Bullock signed as a college free agent in May after 25 rushing touchdowns across stops at Ole Miss and South Alabama.
Brooks, meanwhile, managed six carries for 22 yards through three quarters and lost six yards on his only reception, according to Cincy Jungle.
Gary Brightwell had the worst night of the group. Eagles rookie linebacker Deontae Lawson punched the football loose on an inside run, and Philadelphia recovered at its own 38, per the Eagles’ play-by-play.
Cincinnati wanted clarity at RB3. Instead, the Bengals 53-man projection picked up two new candidates.
Swing Tackle and the Last Cornerback Are Still Open
The offensive tackle problem predates Friday. Cincinnati released veteran Cody Ford on Monday after two holding penalties and two false starts against Chicago. That move left Jalen Rivers and Javon Foster to compete for the swing tackle role, Local 12 reported.
Several roster projections now expect Cincinnati to keep both rather than pick one. In other words, the Bengals 53-man roster absorbs two tackles where it planned for one, and that costs a spot somewhere else.
The cornerback room has a cleaner fight. DJ Turner II and Dax Hill start. Jalen Davis, Ja’Sir Taylor and rookie Tacario Davis sit next in line. Josh Newton and DJ Ivey are competing for the final spot. Newton intercepted passes in three straight practices last week.
Meanwhile, Tacario Davis made his own case in Philadelphia, picking off a deflected Tanner McKee pass and returning it 15 yards.
The Argument Against Caring About Any of This
Preseason records predict nothing. The 2006 Bengals went 4-0 that August and then finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs. Cincinnati beat backups with backups on Friday, and Joe Burrow never took a snap all month.
All of that is true, and it is the right way to read the scoreboard.
It is the wrong way to read the roster. The value of three exhibition games is not the record. It is the sorting. Which undrafted back breaks a tackle, which sixth receiver also returns punts, which rookie corner catches a deflection.
Taylor said as much about the closing stretch. “I thought the defense was awesome in the fourth quarter,” he said, describing a unit playing without many substitutes.
That information is what Cincinnati spends August buying. The 3-0 record is the receipt.
Bengals 53-Man Roster Cuts: What Happens Sunday
Cincinnati must reach 53 players before 6 p.m. Sunday. Waiver claims settle at 1 p.m. Monday. Practice squads form after that, so the Bengals 53-man roster cuts produce a second wave the city will not see until Tuesday.
Overall, roughly 1,180 jobs across the league end in a single afternoon.
Cincinnati opens the regular season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The front office reshaped this roster through trades, free agency and the cap-space restructuring it worked out in the spring.
The preseason produced a perfect record and a longer list of good players than the rules allow.
Sunday resolves that the hard way.
FAQs
What was the final score of the Bengals-Eagles preseason finale?
Cincinnati won 30-13 at Lincoln Financial Field on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026.
When is the NFL roster cutdown deadline in 2026?
Teams must reach 53 players by 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, Aug. 30. The league moved the deadline up two days from the Tuesday date used in recent seasons.
What is the difference between a player being waived and released?
Players with fewer than four accrued seasons go on waivers, where any of the other 31 teams can claim them, with claims processed at 1 p.m. ET on Monday. Veterans with four or more accrued seasons become free agents immediately and can sign anywhere.
Was this the Bengals' first undefeated preseason?
No. Cincinnati went 4-0 in the 2006 preseason. The 2026 team went 3-0 because the league now plays three exhibition games rather than four.
Who is Cincinnati's Week 1 opponent?
The Bengals open the regular season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
This report was produced with the assistance of The Cincinnati Exchange’s proprietary AI article system and reviewed by a human editor prior to publication. Portions of this report contain analysis and interpretation by The Cincinnati Exchange editorial staff. Analysis is clearly distinguished from verified fact.
