The Denver Broncos will take on the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night in a game between teams looking to get their season back on the right track. One of the more intriguing storylines in this game is that three players now on the roster of the Bengals were once key figures in Denver’s future plans.
Noah Fant, Dalton Risner and Samaje Perine all play for the Bengals now and will be looking to stick it to their former team on Monday. Interestingly, all three of them were listed on the Bengals’ final injury report on Friday and it appears that Fant won’t be able to play due to a concussion.
The Broncos used their first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft after trading back. He spent three years in Denver and caught 170 passes for 1,905 yards and 10 touchdowns. Ahead of the 2022 season, he was part of the deal that helped the Broncos acquire Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks.
Fant spent three seasons in Seattle and was released by them this offseason. He signed with the Bengals in late July and has been the team’s No. 1 tight end this season, catching 12 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown through three games.
Risner was looking for a new team to sign with all offseason before settling on Cincinnati, his third NFL team, in late August. He is listed as one of the team’s starting guards along an offensive line that has been criticized for years. Joe Burrow went down in Week 2 with a turf toe injury that will force him to miss most of the rest of this season and that offensive line was immediately to blame by the team’s fanbase.
Perine spent one season in Denver in 2023 and caught 50 passes that season, good for third on the team. He figured to be a big part of the team’s plans the following season but after drafting Audric Estime and with the emergence of undrafted free agent Jaleel McLaughlin, the Broncos surprisingly cut him before that season started.
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Perine is now in his second stint with the Bengals and though he’s been used sparingly so far this season, he is the No. 2 running back behind Chase Brown.
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