After the Cincinnati Bengals starters dismantled the Bills offense and defense, the roster seems to be shaping up quite nicely. However, the backups didn’t fare as well. Still, individual players trying to make the roster showed some flashes.

I’ve certainly made my decisions on who should be on the 53 man roster, but of course this is simply my opinion. The coaches are far more knowledgeable than I’ll ever hope to be, and thus may have a completely different view.

With that said, let’s look into a 53 man projection before week 4 of the preseason.

QB (2): Andy Dalton, Matt Barkley

Unlike my colleague Chris Roling, I believe that the team will ultimately keep Matt Barkley over Jeff Driskel here. Although I like Driskel, I believe the Bengals value Barkley’s veteran experience more than Driskel’s athleticism and raw potential.

Matt Barkley started for about 1 and a half quarters against the Bills and had some success, minus an interception intended for Auden Tate. The interception was not entirely Barkley’s fault however, as Tate dropped a dart that hit him in the hands. He was accurate over the middle throwing some nice balls to Alex Erickson as well as Tyler Boyd. He also looked comfortable in the pocket, as the backup offensive line didn’t give up a single sack. Overall, Barkley has looked solid over the last couple of weeks compared to his week 1 outing against the Bears.

And I don’t think I need to state the case for Andy Dalton being on the roster, so I’ll just leave it at that.