The Cincinnati Bengals made a point to shut down cut candidate chatter about a specific veteran during the NFL combine. They also made a point to throw weight behind a struggling starter for 2026.
One thing they didn’t do? Defend veteran defensive lineman TJ Slaton all that much.
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We listed Slaton as a cut candidate in mid-January. There aren’t many on the roster this year, but axing Slaton would save roughly $6.4 million. That’s a big chunk of change and quite important.
This is worth bringing up again because, as The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. recently pointed out, Bengals brass at the combine had every opportunity to praise and talk notably about Slaton, even when prompted, but simply didn’t.
It’s an odd one, considering the heaps of praise on almost every other notable name, be it Dax Hill, BJ Hill or even the struggling-laden rookie linebackers from last year.
Slaton? Not much.
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The veteran free-agent signing was, beyond providing a boost to run defense when on the field, unremarkable. We’ve speculated in the past that the Bengals could always choose to cut Slaton and use the savings to bring back fan favorite DJ Reader instead. It might be a wash from a performance standpoint, but a big boost to the locker room. Who knows?
Annually, it’s always worth watching who the Bengals don’t talk highly about, or skirt around during these media sessions. Tack on the major cap space savings, and this is very much an important read-between-the-lines thing right now.
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals at NFL combine might’ve hinted at cut candidate’s fate