Bengals 2025 Roster Breakdown: Lucas Patrick's journeyman career reaches an important year in Cincinnati

Bengals roster breakdown is back! During the 99 days leading up to Cincinnati's regular season opener against the Cleveland Browns, the player with the matching jersey number as days remaining will become the day's highlighted player.

62 days remain until the Bengals' first game of the 2025 season, which has being introduced to No. 62 Lucas Patrick.

Lucas Patrick

Age: 31
Year: 10th
Position: Guard
College: Duke
Previous Teams: Green Bay Packers (2016-21), Chicago Bears (2022-23), New Orleans Saints (2024) 
Jersey Number: 62

Patrick enters his 10th season in the NFL and first with the Bengals after going undrafted during the 2016 NFL Draft. He spent five years at Duke and lettered four years, two of them as a full-time starter. The Packers signed him as a UDFA and kept him on the practice squad his entire rookie season, which is why he's only accrued eight seasons going into his 10th total year in the league. He made the 53-man roster in 2017 hasn't gone year without doing so since. 

Green Bay kept Patrick around through 2021 thanks to a two-year extension signed in 2019, using him as a starter from 2020-21 at all three interior offensive line spots in each of those two years. He left for backup's role for the Bears in 2022, but emerged as the team's starting center in 2023. The Saints signed him on a one-year deal in 2024 and started him at left guard for eight games and at center for two games. He appeared in one other game strictly for special teams.

Cincinnati becomes Patrick's fourth team in five years, and he's on track to stay as a starter. 

Contract Details

Patrick signed a one-year, $2.1 million contract in March. He's already earned a $200,000 signing bonus and a $75,000 workout bonus. He can earn a base salary of $1.55 million and up to $275,000 in per game roster bonuses, bringing his potential cash earnings to $2.1 million. 

Because Patrick only played in 11 games last year, 64.7% of his per game roster bonuses count against this year's salary cap. His cap hit for the 2025 season is $2,002,941.

Roster Outlook

My biggest miscalculation of the Bengals' offseason was their plan at guard. Instead of attacking the position early in free agency, they waited for the market to almost completely dry up before signing Patrick to a one-year deal. It was not the route many expected after the team trotted out the worst starting guard tandem in the league last year. 

Patrick is Cincinnati's external solution to an on-and-off problem that's mostly been on for the past decade. He's now in a battle with Cody Ford to be the Week 1 starting right guard, and I expect him to win that battle. His tape at guard is cleaner than it is at center, specifically in pass protection, and that's priority No. 1 in an offense with Joe Burrow commanding it. 

Should Ford win the job instead, Patrick is a shoo-in to be the first G off the bench and maybe the emergency center as well, though Matt Lee should have the edge there. Regardless, Patrick is making the team this year. It would be a total whiff for the Bengals' only free agent addition at the position to miss the cut entirely.  

Projected role: Starting right guard

Previous Player Profiles

• No. 99: Myles Murphy
• No. 98: T.J. Slaton Jr.
• No. 97: Shemar Stewart
• No. 96: Cam Sample
• No. 95: Howard Cross III
• No. 94: Eric Gregory
• No. 93: McKinnley Jackson
• No. 92: B.J. Hill
• No. 91: Trey Hendrickson
• No. 90: Kris Jenkins Jr.
• No. 89: Drew Sample
• No. 88: Mike Gesicki
• No. 87: Tanner Hudson
• No. 86: Kole Taylor
• No. 85: Cam Grandy
• No. 84: Tanner McLachlan
• No. 83: Erick All Jr.
• No. 82: Mitchell Tinsley
• No. 81: Jermaine Burton
• No. 80: Andrei Iosivas
• No. 79: Andrew Coker
• No. 77: Caleb Etienne
• No. 76: Devin Cochran
• No. 75: Orlando Brown Jr.
• No. 74: Jalen Rivers
• No. 73: Andrew Stueber
• No. 71: Amarius Mims
• No. 69: Dante Barnett
• No. 68: Seth McLaughlin
• No. 67: Cordell Volson
• No. 66: Tashawn Manning
• No. 65: Matt Lee
• No. 64: Ted Karras
• No. 63: Dylan Fairchild