CINCINNATI – Arguably the most significant loss in Cincinnati Bengals history, the late-season, 38-35 overtime thriller at Miami in 2019 has been dubbed the Burrow Bowl because the team clinched the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft by losing.
Only three Bengals who played in that game are still on the team.
Or at least that was true at the start of the day. The number jumped to four when the team signed cornerback Nate Brooks before today’s training camp practice.
Bengals Add 3 Players to Roster, Including Veteran CB Nate Brooks
Brooks was a rookie undrafted college free agent for the Dolphins in 2019, and the game against Cincinnati was the second of his career. He finished with four tackles and a pass defense.
“It probably was one of my best games, honestly,” Brooks said after practice.
Duke Tobin on why the #Bengals won't be adding a veteran presence at a position of uncertainty: https://t.co/i71M7nmGcS
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison)
Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said Monday he didn’t anticipate signing a veteran cornerback despite the Bengals having three openings on the 90-man roster. Brooks technically is a veteran, but he’s not the type of player Tobin was referring to while answering a question about adding quality depth to the position.
The Dolphins were Brooks’ third team in 2019. Since then he’s been with the Baltimore Ravens (2020), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2021), Tennessee Titans (2021), Arizona Cardinals (2021-22), Las Vegas Raiders (2022), Titans again (2022), Birmingham Stallions of the USFL (2023), San Francisco 49ers (2023), Birmingham Stallions of the UFL (2024), and Michigan Panthers of the UFL (2024).
“I am beyond grateful for the UFL,” Brooks said. “It let me go be myself again and prove myself to the world really and just finally getting some honors with the first-team All-UFL. I am beyond grateful for every opportunity, both organizations I played for.”
Did he ever think he’d get back to the NFL?
“I always kept faith,” Brooks said. “You doubt yourself sometimes, but for sure. All I needed was the right opportunity, the right team, someone to take a chance.”
The Bengals are the team giving him the opportunity.
“I want to be on a 53. That’s my goal,” he said. “That’s what I wake up every day and train to. I want to make a 53-man roster and prove I can play in this league and that a bunch of other guys in my position can also play.”
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Brooks was one of three players the Bengals signed today to get to the 90-man limit, with the others being wide receiver Hakeem Butler and punter Ryan Rehkow.
A fourth-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2019, Butler has appeared in two games but has yet to catch a pass.
Like Brooks, he has a long transaction log that includes stops in Carolina, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh in the NFL, the BC Lions and Edmonton Elks in the Canadian Football League, and the St. Louis Battlehawks in the XFL and UFL.
Rehkow is an undrafted rookie free agent who initially signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. He joins the punting competition with incumbent Brad Robbins, the team’s sixth-round pick in 2023, and undrafted rookie Austin McNamara.
“Ryan was a guy that I had high regard for coming out of the draft. Obviously, I scouted all of them,” Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons said. “Austin also was a guy I had high regard for. Ryan was available, so it’s a good opportunity for us to take a look at him and compare and contrast and see what we’ve got.”
