Zac Taylor has been high on the rookie so far.
The Cincinnati Bengals have struck out on many secondary players over the last several drafts, but they might have found one in Josh Newton, their fifth-round pick out of TCU.
The 5-foot-11 corner, who is originally from Monroe, Louisiana, was First-team All-Big 12 in 2022 and then Second-team All-Big 12 in 2023, so he was more than deserving of his Day 3 selection.
While the opportunities throughout the season for the 24-year-old haven’t necessarily been frequent, he has been able to capitalize during practice and has impressed head coach Zac Taylor.
“He’s had a great mindset. He’s had tremendous energy, very focused, very mature for a young player in terms of how he conducts himself on the field and how much it means to him. I was pleased with some of the things he’s done, just with his mentality as he’s gone out there and practiced, even today. Impressive young man, and we’re going to count on him going forward,” Taylor said Monday via Bengals.com’s Geoff Hobson.
Newton has played 11 games this season yet has not got a start yet. He has eight tackles, six of which have been solo tackles. On top of that, he has two pass deflections despite playing just 16% of the team’s snaps. Newton has 172 snaps on special teams, so he certainly has aided the team in that way as well.
That said, Taylor clearly has respect for the rookie, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see him on the field more often as games potentially start to mean less for Cincinnati, especially with DJ Turner now done for the season.
