Lions-Bengals Preseason Recap: What Detroit and Cincinnati Learned in Week 1

Cincinnati beat Detroit 16-14 in the preseason opener for both teams on Thursday night, per ESPN. Joe Burrow led the Bengals for two series before giving way to the rest of Cincinnati's quarterback room, and Jared Goff sat out entirely for the Lions, joining most of Detroit's projected Week 1 starters on the sideline. That left the bulk of the night to players fighting for the back of two rosters, which is the entire point of a preseason opener.

Detroit's backup quarterback race is not settled

Luke Altmyer, an undrafted rookie quarterback, took the bulk of the snaps for Detroit and made his case the hard way. He went 13 of 22 for 130 yards with two interceptions, three turnovers total, but he closed the game by leading a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in the final two minutes, capped by a 24-yard scoring pass and a two-point conversion he ran in himself to cut the deficit to two points. Joshua Dobbs played the two series after him and went 4 of 8 for 32 yards across a pair of field-goal drives. He signed a one-year contract worth up to $1.9 million with the Lions this week, replacing a longtime backup who retired this offseason, and beat writers expect him to win the No. 2 job on the strength of his prior experience running this exact offensive scheme, Athlon Sports reported. Altmyer's three turnovers Thursday only reinforce that read, late touchdown drive or not.

A cut-and-recalled receiver caught the last touchdown

Tarik Black had been released just a week earlier, then brought back days later once a corresponding move at tight end opened a spot back up, per NBC Sports. His 24-yard touchdown catch in the final two minutes cut the deficit to two points, and for a player whose spot was in real doubt seven days earlier, that catch is exactly the kind of tape a bubble receiver needs on file before final cuts get made later this month.

Jack Endries answers a real question at tight end

Jack Endries

Jack Endries is a seventh-round pick, the 221st selection in this year's draft out of Cal and Texas, and he is fighting for reps behind a real logjam: Mike Gesicki and Drew Sample sit ahead of him as the starters, with Tanner Hudson also on the depth chart before you get to him, per AtoZ Sports. None of that stopped him from scoring on his first NFL target. Joe Flacco found Endries for a 4-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and Endries finished with three catches for 25 yards, tied for the team high in receptions on the night. "That was an awesome person to catch a touchdown from as my first touchdown," Endries said of Flacco afterward, per Bengals.com. A seventh-round tight end does not need to beat out Gesicki to matter. He needs a real role to survive final cuts, and a touchdown in his first outing is exactly the kind of evidence that argument needed.

Colbie Young looks the part in his preseason debut

Colbie Young is a fourth-round pick, the 140th selection out of Georgia, and Cincinnati's own coaches have called him the standout of training camp, per Fox19. He backed it up with two catches for 28 yards, including a 20-yard conversion on third-and-16, working behind Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on the depth chart. Cincinnati's top two receivers barely play in preseason games, so a fourth-round rookie converting a third-and-16 against real NFL coverage is a legitimate data point, not just a camp story that never shows up against a real opponent.

A numbers game at the back of Cincinnati's backfield

Chase Brown is Cincinnati's lead back, with Samaje Perine and Tahj Brooks next up on the depth chart. Kendall Milton, who has spent most of his first two NFL seasons on the practice squad, sits behind those three, and this was his best chance yet to change that pecking order. He lost a fumble deep in enemy territory in the second quarter, per Fox19, the kind of mistake a bubble back cannot afford in his one extended look of the summer.

What it means

Neither team's stars played enough to matter, which is normal for a Week 1 preseason game. The real news was at the bottom of both rosters. Detroit's backup quarterback job still looks like it belongs to the newer signing despite Thursday's box score, Cincinnati got a real answer at tight end from a rookie who was barely drafted, and a fourth-round receiver gave the Bengals a reason to keep faith in what they saw from him all camp. None of it changes a single redraft ranking, but all of it is worth filing away for dynasty rosters and deep best ball builds, where the back of a depth chart eventually becomes the whole roster. Check the rookie tracker for how Endries and Young are trending as final cuts approach, and see our full rankings for where any of Thursday's names currently sit.