I wonder what happened here.

"Mark Curnutte, of The Cincinnati Enquirer, reports Cincinnati Bengals LB Keith Rivers has been moved from the starter at weakside linebacker to the No. 3 position on the depth chart."

He hasn't signed yet.

thanks

Good Lord! Imagine how far they'll drop him when he reports to camp!

This is probably the place to note that Brandon Johnson has been moved to first team Will.

I thought Johnson had star quality at Louisville three years ago if (IF) he could become a solid physical tackler. He spent the last two years behind Dansby (and doing great on special teams), and it sounds like he learned his lessons from what I have been reading. Johnson is tall, 6-5, has long arms and plays sideline to sideling in pursuit and coverage very nicely. He's a good pass rusher too. It was the more physical parts of the game that I thought might be beyond him, but (BUT) I also thought he could be special if he got tough. He's a quality almost freakish athlete.

I'm sure Johnson will make a great reserve adn be called upon by Oct.

(Rotoworld) The Bengals are closing in on a deal with first-round pick Keith Rivers, according to Profootballtalk.com.

Analysis: It appears Monday's depth chart listing Rivers as third string may have expedited talks. The camps haven't reached an accord to this point mostly because No. 8 choice Derrick Harvey is unsigned. Rivers was the ninth overall pick. The 10th pick, Jerod Mayo, signed a five-year, $18.9 million pact with the Patriots. That deal included $13.8 million guaranteed.

Bengals first-round rookie LB Keith Rivers has arrived at camp and will sign his contract Tuesday night.

Source: Cincinnati Enquirer

Signed sealed delivered!

he's producing.

anxiously awaiting pro reviews.........

I missed the game.. did he play

YES. He had 7 tackles.

He looked good. It was a bit difficult to see, because the announcers were too busy talking about Favre and the camera kept showing Favre signs in the crowd while the game was going on. I rewatched the game so I could get a better look at some of the players I was very interested in seeing. The announcers rarely even mentioned who was making the plays as they unfolded. They mixed up Chris Perry and Kenny Watson a few times, and eventually didn't even talk about the game itself. Very frustrating. [end rant] But yeah, Rivers was impressive considering he just signed.

Jene? What did you think?

I didn't record it and I'm kicking myself for not paying better attention. I really wish they would add a simple feature to all the onscreen graphics we have to endure. Since the broadcasters apparently prefer to talk about Brett Favre than the game they're calling just give me a simple text after each play.

Smith carried for six yards. Tackle by Jones.

I thought he got better as the game went on. He was hesitant during his first series, shuffling and taking a bad step now and then. Looked more comfortable in the second half and more decisive. There were a couple of plays where the offense blew an assignment and let him make plays unblocked. He looks like he'll have the range that was advertised and he was one of the few consistent tacklers in the game. Both bode well, especially since he's playing alongside Dhani Jones. It'll be interesting to see how well he does against first teamers and how well he can fight through trash given that he'll apparently be playing to the tight end side at times in Zimmer's scheme.

Yeah I agree he looked rough in the first half against starters and shined against non starters!!! I really expected him to do alot better but like always I want to see him in the last preseason game which is probable the only real good pre season game you can gage how the season will start.

What did you expect to see better of him? Being that he just signed, I was pleasantly suprised. I think a better gauge for preseason games are the 2nd to last games.

The next-to-last game of the pre-season (3rd game for most) is considered the 'dressed rehearsal'. It is the game the starters typically play the entire first half at least. Sometimes 3 quarters.

The final pre-season game the starters hardly see the field (if at all) and is used primarily as a last look at guys on the roster bubble.

Rivers, Jones and Johnson now the first team linebackers.

So your boy Brandon is strong side?

That's pretty funny.

"Dear Brandon

We told you so.

signed

Jene and John"

SLB Jeanty is injured. So, does it stick?

I think Johnson is a better overall player than Jeanty. He's got a little Landon Johnson in him. I suppose it's possible that Jeanty plays on clear rushing situations and Johnson plays in other base defensive situations. It's also possible that Johnson gets some nickel snaps in favor of Rivers until the rookie proves he's ready. Marvin has always like Jeanty, who has quietly been a steady performer though not a particularly durable one.

unreal. jene, please tell us that you'll do one last impromptu interview with brandon......

Well, to be fair, it was a matter of semantics and he was probably more correct, if only because the Bengals were declaring the strong side differently than I was used to. I haven't had time to check and see if I'm really the one that's confused. Norton felt the same as I did, though. If the Bengals use a lot of that particular defense this season, my favorite Bengal may actually be to what some might call the weak side a fair amount.

So confuddling.

First half impressions against the ones and twos:

Rivers was more comfortable this week. Still taking a false step, but was more often playing downhill than last week. Thought he shed blockers pretty well, but I don't know enough about the Lion OL to say whether it's a worth making a fuss over. Alternated nickel snaps with Brandon Johnson early in the first quarter, but saw very few nickel snaps during the rest of the first half. The nickel thing may not be a huge issue for long and Dhani Jones was almost never around the ball.

Hard to see Rivers not leading the team in tackles with this group. Didn't look like a LB1 in the making, but the poor impression Jones continues to make as a box score threat has to move Rivers comfortably in the 20-30 range at this point.

In other news, although I think Tony feels differently, I think Jordon Dizon has a ways to go.

Is Rivers going to be everydown LB on sundays

I think he will.

Brandon Johnson was getting some nickel snaps with the first team late in the preseason, but he's looking like he may fall out of the team's plans at this point. Darryl Blackstock may play in the nickel, but will do so as a pass rusher. That leaves Rivers as the likely second nickel backer.

If he doesn't get every nickel snap this weekend, he will by midseason at the latest. I'm fortunate enough to live where I get to see every Cincinnati game, and the information in the every-down backer thread will be updated weekly with good information.

Is it confirmd that Rivers is starting? I've seen a couple of different depth charts that still show Johnson ahead of him and have not seen anything from the coaching staff either way.

Rivers got the vast majority of the first team defensive snaps in the third and fourth preseason games. Johnson rotated in here and there, and did dent the nickel packages as well, but I think Rivers is a safe bet to get 85-90% of the snaps. Unfortunately, we never get any completely trustworthy information from the Bengal coaching staff on these things -- particularly on defense.

Rivers is listed as the starter on the Bengals.com website. That's about as official as we can get. Obviously, those things can be dated, but with a rookie, I think we are safe to say it is official.

Long live IDP leagues!!! Separates the men the boys and the REAL knowledge experts like FBG from the also-rans (like that HACK Matthew Berry on ESPN)

How'd he look, anyone get a good look at Rivers' first regular season performance?

yes, it would be good to get some perspective of someone who saw him. Box score looks good of course. 9 tackles/1 assist.

Rivers benefited from the crappy play of the defensive tackles and so-so play of MLBs Dhani Jones and Corey Mays. He really benefited from the 46 rushing attempts the Cincinnati defense faced. Rivers was caught out of position at times, missed tackles and quit in pursuit on a few plays. He also sat in the majority of nickel situations for Brandon Johnson.

All that aside, Rivers will continue to get above-average opportunity, is likely to improve as the season progresses and will probably see more time in the nickel soon. Plenty of potential this season.

Hey Jene, I'm just curious. Do you have your own IDP rankings on the FBG site? I'd be curious to see them if you do.

My final redraft rankings by position were posted last Tuesday, I think. They should be available, though you may have to change the time frame in the upper right hand corner of the rankings pages.

My final redraft overall rankings were a couple of weeks prior to that, as were my most recent rookie only rankings. It's very hard for me to find the time to update dynasty rankings once the preseason starts and through the regular season, so those will be considerably older.

Always happy to answer specific questions if you have them.