CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Heading into the 2019 season, Hutchinson Community College changed its offensive coordinator and put in a new scheme. On that team, there was a second-year receiver coming off of a season where he only had 10 catches. It couldn’t have been easier for that guy to fly under the radar. Instead, he committed himself to figuring the new system.
Six years later, that receiver is expected to start for the Cincinnati Bengals against the New England Patriots. Mitchell Tinsley, the best underdog story on the Bengals, does a lot of things well. But the most important one might be his ability to pick up an offense.
Tinsley had to learn a new system heading into 2019. He transferred to Western Kentucky in 2020 and had to learn an entirely new offense again. He has actually had to learn a new offense every single year since his freshman year of college. That’s developed into an incredibly valuable ability for the 26-year-old.
“This is my eighth year of having a new offense (since I left high school),” Tinsley said. “I’ve had to learn a new system every year. What I learned in college was being able to know every position, knowing the routes and the blocking schemes. Anything. Make myself as valuable as possible.”
After joining the Bengals on a futures contract in February — not a path that regularly leads to playing time in the NFL —Tinsley has worked his way up from the bottom of the depth chart and become the Bengals’ No. 4 receiver all year. His focus, consistency, reliability and versatility have led to him having a real role in this offense ahead of competitors on the depth chart Charlie Jones and Jermaine Burton.
There’s a reason why every time Tinsley makes a big play, the entire sideline goes wild. He was ready for every sliver of opportunity that he was able to find during OTAs, training camp, the preseason and now the regular season.
On Sunday against the Patriots, with Ja’Marr Chase out due to suspension, Tinsley should have his best chance yet.
“(He’s a) true testament to the value of hard work and little else,” Pitcher said. “When you’re true to that, and you believe in that, and you represent that every single day, you don’t need much else. That will come across to the people who matter when it comes to making those decisions. He’s self made. Absolutely nothing was handed to him.”
After wrapping up his college career at Penn State, Tinsley spent two years on the background of the Commanders’ roster and practice squad. The Bengals signed him in late January to fill a spot on the 90-man roster. The scouts liked him, and Tinsley believes that a great preseason game that he played against the Bengals a few years ago may have helped with that.
But Tinsley had to earn snaps ahead of guys like Cole Burgess and Jamoi Mayes.
“When I first signed, I felt like I had a chance,” Tinsley said. “I’ll always bet on myself. For me, it’s about executing the details and being assignment sound. I put a lot of work in this offseason. It’s just about executing.”
Zac Taylor said that Tinsley had the hardest path to be in this position out of anyone on the team because of how and when he was signed as well as how the Bengals’ receiver room already looked.
Early in training camp, Tinsley had a tough catch against practice squad corner Bralyn Lux. Taylor ended up showing the play to the entire team in a meeting. The head coach was impressed by Tinsley’s technique, positioning and detail on the play.
The key to Tinsley’s entire journey with the Bengals is that he did the work to know what he was supposed to do. He wasn’t getting many snaps in practices. When he got a chance in the slot in a random moment, for example, he executed his assignment. When he got another snap on a play where he was just a run blocker, for example, he executed again.
One day, he got the chance to run a deep route on a play where he ended up being the target. During a practice inside of Paycor Stadium, he reeled in the acrobatic catch. The secret was out that Tinsley could play, and then he backed that up some more in the preseason.
Bengals third-string quarterback Sean Clifford was Tinsley’s college quarterback at Penn State. He says guys like Tinsley help a team establish its culture.
“You’re always trying to maintain a culture of guys who are going to hold themselves to a high standard and hold everyone else to a high standard,” Clifford said. “Mitch is one of those guys. He’s not going to be super outspoken. At the same time, you always know when he’s on the field that he’s going to get his job done. He’s someone who you can trust to have your back.”
There’s a lesson here for the entire Bengals’ roster.
The guys at the bottom of the defensive depth chart right now have a much clearer lane to playing time than Tinsley did during the summer. The Bengals are 3-7. Across the roster, they’re looking for guys who play hard, play through the whistle, show standout football IQ and execute their assignments. During the second half of this season, contributors can truly come from anywhere.
They need more guys like Tinsley.
“How you do anything is how you do everything,” Tinsley said. “I’m trying to execute and try to be the best player I can be. I don’t want there to be anything I can’t do as far as my role. I want the coach to have confidence that I can make that play or make that block. I credit it to my family. Also I credit it to failure in the past that I’ve learned from and things I’ve gotten better at. I’ve improved my mindset and my game.”
He has been playing 14% of the offense’s snaps during the 2025 season, and that will increase this week versus New England. Multiple receivers could get a chance to soak up some of those snaps, and it’ll take multiple players to fill Chase’s role as well as the Bengals can. Tinsley has earned his place at the front of that line.
“I’m grateful to be here,” Tinsley said. “I’m grateful for Zac, coach (Pitcher), coach Troy (Walters) giving me the opportunity to be here just to be an option. I’ve got bigger goals than that. When I look back at where I was last year or five, six or seven years ago, it’s night and day. I’m taking steps every single day.”
In the process, he can serve as an example of what’s possible when you represent the characteristics that the Bengals’ coaches and the established leaders on the team are looking to see.
“Everybody has their own value systems and things that are important to them,” Pitcher said. “But it’d be hard to look at what Tinsley has done and continues to do — nothing glamorous — but he has earned a role, and he does important work for us. That’s for a guy with his background. There are other guys with shared backgrounds. That’s the path, and so hopefully guys have seen it and are attempting to emulate it.”
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