One of the biggest questions for the Cincinnati Bengals entering the 2024 season is what they will get from their wide receivers who aren’t named Tee Higgins or Ja’Marr Chase.
Cincinnati lost longtime receiver Tyler Boyd in the offseason, but Higgins and Chase remain their top two options.
One player who can help ease the burden of an uncertain wide receiver room outside of their top two options is Trenton Irwin, who is entering his sixth season in the NFL. Irwin was signed to a one-year contract through the 2024 season and will provide some much-needed leadership to the team’s receiver corps.
Thomas E.
- Height: 1.88m
- Weight: 200 pounds.
- Age: 28
- College: Stanford
- Hometown: Glendale, California
- Experience: 5 years
Cap status
Irwin re-signed with the Bengals in the offseason, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $1.49 million, or 0.6% of the team’s salary cap, according to Over the Cap.
Irwin is certainly replaceable, as the Bengals have a number of young receivers who can play well. However, he doesn’t cost the team much and should produce good results for a 29-year-old receiver.
background
Irwin went undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft, the same draft in which the Bengals took Jonah Williams, Drew Sample and Germaine Pratt as their first three picks. Irwin began his NFL career after a four-year career at Stanford, where he rushed for 1,738 yards and five touchdowns. His best season was his year with 685 yards.
Since joining the Bengals in 2019, Irwin has established himself as a reliable option for Andy Dalton and Joe Burrow. Irwin finished the 2023 season with a 57 overall grade according to Pro Football Focus. He had 33 targets and 25 receptions for 316 yards and one touchdown.
Irwin may not be able to back up his statement with statistics, but he is a solid contributor to this unit and has a real chance to become the third-best receiver on the roster, especially with three of the four behind Higgins and Chase being in their first or second seasons.
Irwin’s most successful season in the uniform came in 2022, when he rushed for 231 yards on 23 attempts and scored four total touchdowns, including two touchdowns in a 22-18 win over the New England Patriots in Week 16.
In the nine games Irwin played this season, Cincinnati was 8-1. Irwin is now 28 and in a locker room with a young group of receivers, he is the veteran and will take on that mentoring role.
Outlook for the 2024 season
Without Boyd on the roster, Irwin will take on a new role, but Cincinnati still needs a tenacious, consistent playmaker like Hunter Renfrow, albeit to a lesser extent. Can Irwin fill that role?
The Bengals drafted Jermaine Burton 80th overall and drafted two receivers last year, Charlie Jones and Andrei Iosivas, who both performed strongly in limit snaps last season. Those three will be included on the final 53-man roster, along with Irwin, Higgins and Chase.
While Chase and Higgins are the clear Nos. 1 and 2, the use of the final four options could be mixed, especially considering the development that Burton, Iosivas and Jones could experience.
According to Player Profiler, Irwin played 133 slot snaps last season, a 30.6% rate. His share of the snaps was 43.6%. While Chase could spend more time in the slot after Boyd signed with the Tennessee Titans after being the Bengals’ primary slot option for the past few seasons, Irwin could be the best option in the slot given his usage at the position last season, and that’s where he could see his most value and most snaps going forward.
Irwin needs to find a way for himself and the Bengals to establish himself as the team’s first option. That’s a position Cincinnati needs to fill, and it’s a perfect fit for Irwin.
