The Cincinnati Bengals will have their work cut out for them to make the playoffs and unfortunately, they still have some major holes working against them.
After a 2019 season that saw the Bengals end as the worst team in the NFL, the 2020 campaign did not go much better. Finishing as the fifth-worst team landed them a highly regarded prospect but little momentum to build on.
Now, entering the 2021 year with a (hopefully) healthy quarterback, and loaded wide receiver room, and plenty of new faces, the team looks to break out of the cellar of the AFC North. The challenge is daunting, however, not only considering the level of competition they need to pass on a rise in the AFC, but also the significant holes on their roster.
While the highs are high (Joe Burrow and a deep, talented wide receiver core) the lows would be what keep the Bengals out of the playoffs again. There are several areas that should be looked at as concerning on the roster, these three groups will have a lot of pressure on them if the Bengals start losing games since all fingers will be pointing for the weakest link.
The Cincinnati Bengals offensive line is still considered one of the worst in the league.
The Bengals had a choice to make at the beginning of the 2021 NFL Draft — Do they go with ultra-talented wide receiver, Ja’Marr Chase, to pair with Joe Burrow, or do they look for some protection for the franchise quarterback and bring in the best lineman prospect in the last few years, Penei Sewell?
The choice, as we know, was made to draft the wide receiver and rely on the additions made in free agency to improve the line (signing Riley Reiff to be the right tackle).
The issue with this line of thinking is that the moves made during the offseason were small when looking at the offensive line. Most of the same cast will be returning and this was a unit that graded as the third-worst in the NFL last season. The rest of the offense looks really promising, but the lack of talent in the line could end up slowing down the whole offense.
The Bengals will need the offensive line to step up in a big way if they have any hope of competing in the AFC North. The problem is, there is not a whole lot of optimism around the unit improving.
The Cincinnati Bengals were bad in the pass rush and lost their best player.
Last year marked a turn of the Bengals being able to rely on their veteran defensive linemen to the younger players needing to step up. Cincinnati no longer has prime Geno Atkins or Carlos Dunlap to count on to disrupt the opposing team consistently. The team is turning to new faces, but the question of improvement remains.
Last year the Bengals relied on Carl Lawson who delivered in a big way. He was one of the best pass rushers in the league winning 20% of his pass rush attempts. During the offseason, however, he decided to leave Cincinnati, which leaves a huge hole for the Bengals to attempt to fill.
Adding Trey Hendrickson is a start, but there is still a gap of talent. Plus, Hendrickson had just one stellar season with the Saints so we’ll find out if he’s the real deal or not.
The bigger issue is that even with Lawson playing at such a high level the team was still the third-worst in pass rushing. Cincinnati is hoping that new faces both through free agency and returning from injury will be enough to have this unit competitive, but there is little evidence to support that the Bengals will be better at rushing the passer in 2021.
The Cincinnati Bengals have had little luck drafting mid-round linebackers in recent years.
So far the offensive line and the pass rush unit were the third-worst in the NFL in 2020. The unit that ranked even lower than that were the linebackers for the Bengals who were the second-worst team in the league last year.
The Bengals have gone through a strategy in recent years of signing aging veterans past their prime or using mid-round selections to try and find a success in the linebacker unit. So far, that strategy has not panned out.
Cincinnati will enter the season needing someone to step up as a linebacker to try and stop tight ends and mobile running backs having their way in the passing game. The Bengals have saved this unit as an area of focus while addressing more pressing concerns early in the last few drafts.
While those positions are valued much higher than linebackers for most teams, the fact remains that this has been a group neglected for a long time.
Don’t expect a sudden turnaround from the Bengals linebackers. The best hope is that an increased pass rush and strong secondary will mask this weakness.
Hopefully, these three areas can up the ante in 2021 and no longer be seen as weaknesses when the season is all said and done.