CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Mitchell Tinsley knew he was coming to a crowded wide receiver room when he signed a reserve/future contract with the Bengals in February, but he had enough confidence in himself to believe he could break through to earn a roster spot, and may have clinched that with his performance on Monday night.

The 6-foot-1, 205-pound Tinsley has had an impressive training camp almost from the start as quarterback Joe Burrow even noted in a press conference a few weeks ago, but on Monday night at the Washington Commanders he had five receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns and received a further endorsement from Burrow in the process.

“That guy’s made plays all camp,” Burrow said during an ESPN interview during the game after he had been pulled. “I’m really happy for him. Hopefully he secured a spot. He’s a guy that you can count on. He’s a smart guy and knows all the positions. A guy you can trust like that is very valuable.”

Tinsley entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Commanders in 2023 and spent almost all of the 2023 and 2024 seasons on the team’s practice squad, as he appeared in only two regular-season games.

He played his final collegiate season at Penn State in 2022 where he had 51 receptions for 577 yards and three touchdowns after two highly productive seasons at Western Kentucky University where he caught 181 passes for 2,356 yards and 23 touchdowns.

The decision to transfer to Penn State was Tinsley betting on his ability to play at a higher level in college, and it’s that same thought process that led him to signing with the Bengals.

“I knew who was here, but I believe in myself, so I’m always going to bet on me. The reason I came here is I saw opportunity for myself in a great offense.”

While Tinsley had a couple of spectacular catches on Monday night it came on the heels of a spectacular in Saturday’s practice when during a two-minute drill quarterback Jake Browning got a free play on fourth down when the defense jumped offside and he opted to fling it far down the middle of the field toward Tinsley. There were two safeties covering Tinsley, but he went up between both and came down with the reception.

“Baller,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said of Tinsley after Monday’s game. “He just works hard. He’s become a guy that everybody really respects in the locker room. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard him speak. He just goes out there and just works and we respect that. He created the opportunities for himself. He’s done enough in practice to where we wanted to put him in positions to be at the point of attack when he was in the game there, and he rewarded himself with touchdowns and catches and extending drives and someone that’s reliable for the quarterbacks in August. So just proud of him. This is the last team he was with, so probably a neat situation for him to come back on this field and do what he just did.”

Tinsley said he didn’t make Monday night into a personal statement toward the Commanders.

“I try not to make it personal,” said Tinsley. “It was more so about me being in the moment and controlling what I could control. It came down to the work I put in in the offseason, the trust that I have in my skills. My coaches and my teammates put me in a position to be successful.”

Tinsley was rewarded in Wednesday’s practice by getting several reps with the first team offense during a 51-play scrimmage.

He said it’s important for him to put Monday night behind him even if it was an exciting moment.

“I understand it was Monday Night Football and a lot of people were watching, so it was cool to see that, but the focus is to do it again,” said Tinsley. “What happened on Monday is in the past. It’s about repeating it and doing it again and not being stuck in the past. For me it’s about proving I can do this week in and week out.”

Taylor made it a point during his Wednesday press conference the importance for players like Tinsley who are trying to make the roster to keep pressing forward with cutdown date looming on Tuesday.

“I want all these guys to continue to be consistent all the way through the bell,” said Taylor. “He’s had a tremendous camp up to this point. Just continue to work hard. We’ll just keep going from there. Really impressed with all the things that we’ve stated in here before. You got to see live and in color on Monday night. Happy for guys who just continue to do things the right way and create the opportunities for themselves and those plays happen. Mitch is a guy, on the big stage, where that occurred.”

Tinsley was asked what it mean for him if he does make the final 53-man roster.

“It would mean a lot, because I believe I can help this team win,” said Tinsley. “I feel like when it comes my turn and I have to fill in or whatever I feel that I am capable and have the skills to make plays out there.”