Bengals Roster Breakdown: Devin Cochran can reestablish his case following lost year to injury

Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots, we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.

Today, we stick with the offensive line to talk about Devin Cochran. It's been a hot minute since we've seen the 6-7 tackle practice with the team as he lost his 2023 season due to injury. He was a participant in this year's offseason program and is ready to pick up where he left off. 

Devin Cochran

• Age: 25
• Year: 3rd
• Position: Offensive tackle
• College: Georgia Tech 
• Previous Teams: None
• Jersey Number: 76

Cochran signed with the Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He spent his first four seasons at Vanderbilt before transferring to Georgia Tech as a graduate student. He played right tackle during his first two years at Vandy before moving to left tackle his senior year. GT had him at left tackle for his lone season with the program. 

The Bengals had him at right tackle to start out in 2022, coming off the bench at the position throughout the preseason. He 86 snaps in three weeks weren't enough to make the 53-man roster and he spent his entire rookie season on the practice squad.  Cochran's second training camp was abruptly cut short with a knee injury just a few days after Joe Burrow's calf injury. The club kept him on the Reserve/Injured list and signed him to a futures deal after the season ended.

Contract details

Cochran signed a one-year futures deal with the Bengals back in January that will pay him the minimum salary for the 2024 season.

His salary will cost $795,000 for the entire season if he's kept on the team for the entire regular season. He made $750,000 last year as he was with the team all year long on I.R. 

Roster chances

On first glance, it doesn't seem like Cochran has much of a chance to make the 53-man roster. The top three tackles on the team are set in stone with veterans Orlando Brown Jr. and Trent Brown and first-round pick Amarius Mims.

The fourth tackle is likely a player who can play both tackle and guard in a pinch and might not even be active on game days. Is that Cochran? He's got competition in his way. 

Jackson Carman, D'Ante Smith, and rookie college free agent Eric Miller are all competing for the same spot as Cochran. Draft status has kept Carman and Smith around for three years when merit would've likely booted them off the team by now. Now that they're in the last year in their contracts, cutting them for undrafted talent becomes more palpable. 

This is all dependent on Cochran being even better than he was the last time we saw him two preseasons ago. He allowed just one pressure in 57 pass blocking snaps back in 2022 according to Pro Football Focus and reportedly looked the part in offseason work per Cincinnati.com's Charlie Goldsmith. 

Chances of making the roster: 20%

Previous player breakdowns

• Kwamie Lassiter II
• Domenique Davis
• Nate Gilliam
• Shaka Heyward
• Jaxson Kirkland