Cincinnati Bengals Stock Report: Who Is Rising and Who Is Falling After Monday Night's Win in Washington?

Barrett Carter

The rookie recorded an interception and a tackle for loss while leading the Bengals defense with seven tackles while playing just 28 defensive snaps.

The fourth-round pick from Clemson has been impressive since camp began, and he’s done it while wearing the green dot to call the plays for the second-team defense.

If he’s not already ahead of free agent-signing Oren Burks on the linebacker depth chart, he should be in short order.

Jake Browning

It was a nice bounce-back performance and a reminder of why Browning is one of the top backups in the league.

His shaky performance in the opener at Philadelphia had a little to do with the fact that he hadn’t attempted a pass in any sort of game since the 2023 finale 18 months earlier.

And it had a lot to do with a shaky offensive line that had Browning constantly on the run trying to avoid the rush.

The line wasn’t any better Monday night, but Browning was, standing in and making big-time throws.

Browning was 16 of 25 for 159 yards and two touchdowns for 108.6 passer rating.

Tycen Anderson

All expectations are that starting safety Geno Stone will be ready for the season opener in Cleveland after suffering hamstring tightness at Philadelphia.

But Anderson cemented his spot as the No. 3 safety on the depth chart ahead of Daijahn Anthony with an interception – albeit a gift from Washington backup Josh Johnson – to go along with four tackles and a second pass breakup.

Anderson and Anthony have been splitting first-team reps since Stone went out. But Monday night Anderson looked as though he earned more, if not all of them moving forward.

Charlie Jones

Not that there was ever much doubt after the camp he was having, but Jones locked down his spot as the No. 4 wide receiver even with Tinsley eye-popping performance.

Jones led the team with seven targets, catching four of them for 32 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown from Burrow.

Before Jones caught his first pass, he reminded everyone of the weapon he can be in the return game by taking an extremely short opening kickoff back 30 yards to set up the Bengals at the 48-yard line.

Evan McPherson

Two games, two 50+ field goals.

McPherson drilled a perfect 54-yarder Monday night, and while it wasn't a high-pressure situation, even for a preseason game, the more he can work on his revised technique and see those long ones go through the uprights, the better his chances will be or returning to his old self.

Stock Falling

Run Defense

The Bengals gave up 185 rushing yards, which were their most in a preseason game in the Zac Taylor era.

And the starting defense was mostly to blame.

The Washington offense bullied the Bengals starters at the point of attack and went 74 yards on just four plays – all runs – on their only series of the night.

After Jayden Daniels left, the Commanders went 44 yards in three plays – all runs – to take a 14-7 lead on a 27-yard touchdown jaunt by third-string running back Bill Croskey-Merritt.

After the starters surrendered 118 yards on seven carries (17.7 average!), the second- and third-team defenses allowed Washington just 67 yards on 23 carries.

Zac Taylor surprisingly brushed off the performance in his postgame news conference.

“It’s preseason,” he said. “I feel really excited about where our defense is at. We go against them every day, and it’s tough. We’ll continue to fix things we need to fix. I love where our defense is at. There’s a lot of things that give the offense a really hard time right now.”

Lucas Patrick

The Bengals replaced the veteran right guard with rookie Jalen Rivers, who just started repping at the position less than two weeks ago, on the second series.

Taylor said Patrick got dinged, and that’s why he came out of the game.

Patrick played better than he did against Philadelphia, but that was a low bar to clear.

Whether replacing him was precautionary or a sign of a bigger concern, it’s notable because Patrick, 32, has missed 17 games the last three seasons.

There is a growing possibility the Bengals could have rookies at both guard spots in Week 1 at Cleveland with Dylan Fairchild on the left and Rivers on the right.

Veteran Dalton Risner is visiting the facility today, but there’s a reason he’s still available at this point in camp. He can add depth, but expectations for him to come in and lock down a starting job should be tempered.

Jordan Battle

He may not be falling on the depth chart, simply because of the state of the safety room.

But he surely dropped a few notches in the eyes of his coaches and teammates after his less than half-hearted effort to stop Daniels on his 14-yard touchdown run.

Battle had a chance – a duty – to drill Daniels at about the 3-yard line, but the third-year safety looked as though he went into practice mode where you’re not supposed to even touch the quarterback.

It was one of three subpar plays for Battle, who also missed a tackle on Deebo Samuel on the game’s first play and appeared to fill the role hole on Chris Rodriguez Jr.’s 40-yard run on the second play. Although that one could have been a ripple effect from rookie Demetrius Knight Jr. fitting the wrong gap as well.

Battle on played seven defensive snaps, so three shaky ones are not good.