Bengals' Ceyair Wright Leaves Training Camp For Acting Gig

NFL training camp is brutal.

From the grueling workouts under the blazing sun of the dog days of summer to the mental toll of knowing you could be cut, that stress increases tenfold for an undrafted rookie.

Enter Ceyair Wright, the cornerback who wasn’t picked in the 2026 draft but was given a chance with the Cincinnati Bengals to prove himself worthy of a roster spot in training camp.

Only Wright decided to quit mid-training camp to pursue his acting career.

“Two things he’s really passionate about were colliding, and he decided to pursue this opportunity,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said Saturday. “We wish him the best. He was fun to be around; he really competed hard for us. It was fun watching him play. I thought he was ascending as a player, but obviously he’s chosen to go a different path.”

Wright’s decision wasn’t made in haste. Sure, he spent his collegiate football career at USC and Nebraska, but he’s also been building up his IMDb credits too.

He starred in the short film Magic ’85, American Skin, and was in a few episodes of Grown-ish in 2022 and 2023 as Zeke, a D1 football player.

His biggest acting credit, though, came in Space Jam: A New Legacy, where he played LeBron James’ eldest son, Darius James.

Training camp for the unlucky usually ends with a call to the coach’s office, where he solemnly informs you that you’ve been cut, but for Wright it was quite the opposite.

“I don’t know how to properly define it for him. He called us last night and let us know that he had an opportunity,” Taylor told reporters. “I know it was a difficult decision for him.”

It sounds like Taylor would have kept Wright on the roster had he kept going, adding, “I thought he was ascending as a player, but obviously he’s chosen to go a different path.”

His potential could work in his favor later on because if acting opportunities dry up, he can still return to the Bengals this season since he’s on the exempt/left squad list and won’t count against Cincinnati’s 90-man roster.

See social media’s reaction to Wright fully pursuing acting below.