{"id":856933,"date":"2026-08-13T19:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/856933\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T19:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T19:40:11","slug":"former-saskatchewan-roughriders-star-wr-meyers-pushing-for-roster-spot-with-nfls-cincinnati-bengals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/856933\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Saskatchewan Roughriders star WR Meyers pushing for roster spot with NFL\u2019s Cincinnati Bengals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former CFL wideout Dohnte Meyers<\/a> has been fighting an uphill battle his entire professional football career – now the 26-year-old wide receiver has a chance to achieve his dream with the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meyers is slated to play for the Bengals in their preseason opener against the Detroit Lions<\/a> on Thursday, which would be his first taste of NFL action.<\/p>\n

You can watch the Lions and Bengals clash LIVE on TSN2, streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App, with coverage starting at 7p.m. ET \/ 4p.m. PT.<\/a><\/p>\n

Meyers was a zero-star recruit out of high school in Georgia, and played his college ball at Presbyterian College in South Carolina – a Division II school. \u201cI got to Presbyterian because I was smart and I returned kicks,\u201d Meyers said, per The Athletic\u2019s Paul Dehner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meyers went undrafted after three years at Presbyterian, and after an unsuccessful tryout with the Atlanta Falcons<\/a>, there were few options available for the young player.<\/p>\n

Rather than give up and look for another job, Meyers doubled down and committed to improving while also promising \u201cto do every tryout, every opportunity, and let the chips fall where they may,\u201d Meyers said.<\/p>\n

Part of the motivation was thanks to his parents, who supported him in his goal even when there were no apparent doors open. \u201cThey were like, \u2018You chase your dream. You\u2019re young. Do it,\u2019\u201d Meyers said. \u201cMy parents are big believers in chasing dreams. This is what you want to do? Act on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first opportunity came when a trainer he was working out with, Manny Rodriguez, got in contact with Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris and set up a tryout north of the border.<\/p>\n

The tryout resulted in a futures contract with no guarantees and an unusual jersey number in 74.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he first came in, Dohnte was wearing 74,\u201d Harris said, per Dehner. \u201cHe was like, \u2018Trev, I can\u2019t be wearing this ugly number, man.\u2019 I said, \u2018You got to go make some plays and they will get you a new number.\u2019 Next day, they put him in 88.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meyers saw limited action in his first season in Saskatchewan in 2024, but was impressive when on the field. He caught 24 passes for 349 yards and a touchdown in four games.<\/p>\n

But Harris knew there was more there. \u201cGuys from Division II that grind through the muck, they are tougher than a $2 steak, mentally and physically,\u201d Harris said. \u201cHe ended up catching a touchdown and broke his wrist in his first preseason game and played through the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

His breakout came last season, when he caught 65 passes for 1,056 yards and eight touchdowns and helped the Roughriders to a Grey Cup title over the Montreal Alouettes.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did he have that explosiveness in his route running, he was just a tremendous guy, he was learning every day, staying after practice,\u201d said Harris. \u201cHe [was] constantly in my ear asking how can I do this route, shave this route better. He\u2019s really good about finding voids in zones and [slowing] his body down. He\u2019s kind of the full package.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coaches have been excited about what they\u2019ve seen from Meyers in camp with the Bengals to this point. \u201cHe\u2019s got real juice,\u201d offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe noticed him in the spring, certainly,\u201d head coach Zac Taylor said. \u201cSo then you get a chance to really go back and pay attention to his past in Canada and college. He\u2019s had a lot of production in his lifetime. It\u2019s just finding ways for him to try to make a play, and he\u2019s shown up. We\u2019re not going out of our way to showcase him. He\u2019s just finding ways to show up and make some plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bengals feature a loaded wide receiver room, including superstars in Ja\u2019Marr Chase and Tee Higgins<\/a>, as well as promising youngsters in Mitchell Tinsley and Andrei Iosivas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely that Meyers will need to earn a role on special teams – the same spot he used to impress Presbyterian early in his football career – in order to stick on the Bengals roster through training camp.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s open to any role, as long as he lands on the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I just cherish every opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cRegardless if it\u2019s at the returner, in the offence, every opportunity is scarce. I believe if you\u2019re on a professional football team, they call your number, whatever that role is, you\u2019re trying to maximize it just so that you know you can be trusted. I feel like that\u2019s kind of what my role is now. Just prove that you want to earn the trust of the locker room and the respect, regardless of how I got here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former CFL wideout Dohnte Meyers has been fighting an uphill battle his entire professional football career – now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[712,49,48,83840,514,77833,82],"class_list":["post-856933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cincinnati-bengals-sports-football-team-team-statscom-327","tag-nfl","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders-sports-football-team-team-genius-sports-106752","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}