The Bengals are listing second-year pro George Iloka as the first-team strong safety on their depth chart, Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com noted Friday.
Iloka, Taylor Mays and rookie Shawn Williams have all had chances to work with the first-team defense at strong safety early in camp, Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported earlier this week.
For now, Mays is listed as the second-team strong safety behind Iloka, with Williams third-string.
Teams don’t always adhere to the depth charts they publicly release, but Iloka’s placement at the top of the strong safety list beats the alternatives. How he fares in preseason games figures to be key, and the same can be said for Mays, who’s in the final year of his deal and needs to play his best this summer. Williams, a third-round pick, figures to make the club no matter what happens, but it will be interesting to see how he progresses.