Keiwan Ratliff Dropped Behind Jonathan Joseph on Depth Chart

This is somewhat disappointing to hear, not because Ratliff deserves to be higher on the depth chart than Joseph, but because Ratliff is looking more and more like a wasted second round pick:

Lewis also said cornerback Johnathan Joseph is the defense's "nickel player," the third or inside cornerback on pass downs. Joseph had been thought to be competing with third-year pro Keiwan Ratliff for the nickel job. Of Joseph, Lewis said, "He's a great blitzer, good tackler, understands what we're doing. He can hang with the wide receiver and eliminate him from the game."

Joseph was the team's first-round draft pick: "He was our starting nickel player the minute he walked in the room" Lewis said.

I watched Ratliff play quite a bit for Florida, and I was excited to see the Bengals draft him. He was a very exciting player in college, very quick, good cover guy, athletic returning punts. But it just hasn't translated well to the professional game. His punt returns last year were pretty bad, more often fair catches than not. I'd certainly rather have Ratlif not taking chances than Peter Warrick's fair catches (and occassional fumbles) inside the 10 yard line, but neither are really good solutions. I'm not completely giving up on Ratliff just yet, but he's facing an uphill battle at this point.

More: Bengals pick rookie over Ratliff at cornerback - Columbus Dispatch
Is the Ratliff Experience Over? - Cincy Jungle