The Cincinnati Bengals have already begun making their roster cuts ahead of Saturday's deadline for all NFL teams to trim their rosters to 53 players. In a surprising move, Cincinnati is waiving linebacker Malik Jefferson per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

The Bengals selected Jefferson in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Texas. In his rookie season, the Texas product suited up in 12 games but failed to start in any of them. Overall, Jefferson finished the 2018 season with just 10 combined tackles.

Entering this season, Jefferson was expected to have a chance to work his way up the depth chart. Considering that Nick Vigil, Preston Brown, and Jordan Evans were the starters; he was going to have a tough time earning a starting spot.

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The Bengals second-year linebacker played in three games this preseason and tallied six tackles. However, Jefferson wasn't active for the team's preseason finale against the Indianapolis Colts due to a non-football illness.

Jefferson missing the final preseason game didn't do him any favors of remaining with the roster but his release could've been imminent for the entire preseason. The former Longhorn has failed to get acclimated into Cincinnati's defense and hasn't made much of a contribution on special teams.

At the beginning of the offseason, the Bengals decided to hire Zac Taylor as their head coach after Marvin Lewis held the title for 16 seasons. Along with Taylor, the team also added defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo to their coaching staff.

As expected, Taylor will continue to build the roster to his liking and cuts like Jefferson will undoubtedly occur.