The Bengals Defense Can Improve Very Quickly

The Bengals defense was the worst in football last year, giving up over 400 yards and 28 points per game. Still, the unit is not as hopeless as those numbers suggest. Here is a look at all three position groups.

Linebacker

Cincinnati’s defense needs to make huge strides if the team wants to contend in 2019. The linebacker group was the main weakness last year. It was constantly hindered by injuries and just flat out bad play.

The Bengals are no doubt counting on Preston Brown to stay healthy this year. Brown came aboard last year in free agency and then opted to sign a long term deal to stay put this offseason. Prior to missing nine games last year, he had never missed a regular season game or recorded less than 109 total tackles in a season. No matter what the rest of the linebacker group looks like come September, a healthy Brown is key to stabilizing it.

With Vontaze Burfict gone, the rest of this position group is made up of solid players like Nick Vigil. Guys like that are fine players, but just don’t have the ability to suitably lead a defense. Fortunately, this is a very deep linebacker draft and most of the top prospects would be day one starters in Cincinnati. Whether it is Devin White, Devin Bush, or somebody else, the Bengals have a relatively uncomplicated path to improvement here.

Defensive line

A decent pass rush is a must for success in the modern NFL. Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap have given the Bengals that for a while now. They are still getting it done at age 31 and 30 respectively. Atkins has 71 career sacks, including 10 last year and Dunlap has 64.5 career sacks, including 7.5 last year. Cincinnati also has some nice complementary pieces at this spot. A little youth and depth could be added on draft day. However, the pieces for success are in house already.

Secondary

The same can be said of the secondary. It was ranked top ten in the NFL by Pro Football Focus. With Darqueze Dennard returning, he, Dre Kirkpactrick, and William Jackson III highlight a solid group. They were just asked to do too much last year in an effort to compensate for the deficiencies at linebacker. A perfect example of that was rookie safety Jessie Bates III. He led the team with 111 tackles. Having guys in the secondary that are not afraid to tackle is pretty unique and a great thing. However, it is bad news to have them tackling as much as Bates was. It means that the opposing offense was getting to the second and third level and awful lot. You can never have enough pieces here, so the Bengals may still add here on draft day.

Conclusion

The good news about the Bengals defense is if the problem was scheme or coaching in 2018, both will be different in 2019. Most importantly, the main issue was and is not a lack of talent.

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"Bengals Should Exceed Low Expectations"