The Cincinnati Bengals have started their offseason after finishing 6-11 in the 2025 campaign, and they must address their weaknesses if they want to return to the playoffs after a three-year layoff next season. They can't make any major moves yet with the NFL Playoffs beginning this weekend, but they did sign free agent wide receiver Dohnte Meyers on Thursday, via the team's website.

"Meyers (5-11, 186) has spent the past two seasons ('24-25) with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League," the announcement reads. "He played in 19 total games for the Roughriders, totaling 89 receptions for 1405 yards and nine TDs. He also returned 11 kickoffs for 319 yards (29.0 average), and had nine punt returns for 94 yards (10.4)."

"Meyers signed with Saskatchewan out of Delta State University after the Roughriders' 2023 season," it continued.

Meyers was a CFL All-Star in 2025, establishing himself as one of the best players in Canada after not getting drafted to the NFL in 2023. That doesn't mean he'll make Cincinnati's 53-man roster next season, but he'll have a chance to prove himself in training camp if he doesn't get waived before then. 

It's not easy to successfully transition from the CFL to the NFL, but it's been done before.

Former Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) quarterback Warren Moon laid the blueprint for the transition, as he's now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Despite enjoying a collegiate career that included a Rose Bowl MVP trophy with the Washington Huskies in 1977, he signed with the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos weeks before the 1978 NFL Draft. He then led the league in passing yards twice and touchdowns three times before playing for the Oilers, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, and Kansas City Chiefs from 1984-2000. 

Pass-rusher Cameron Wake was a two-time CFL All-Star and Most Outstanding Defensive Player over his run with the BC Lions from 2007-2008 before becoming a five-time Pro Bowler in the NFL, finishing his career with 100.5 sacks. He played with the Miami Dolphins from 2009-2018 and spent 2019 with the Titans.

Bengals running back Chase Brown is a more recent example, although he's a native Canadian. The 25-year-old was taken in the seventh round of the 2023 CFL Draft by the Montreal Alouettes after earning All-Big Ten honors at Illinois, but then went to Cincinnati after it took him in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Meyers might never amount to anything resembling those players, but there's no downside in the investment for the Bengals.