The Cincinnati Bengals are fresh off a Super Bowl run and added a strong offseason to bolster their roster but there are still three moves Cincinnati should make before the season starts.
The Cincinnati Bengals had one of the most successful runs in franchise history. Making the Super Bowl was a pleasant surprise and the team was able to follow that up by shoring up their biggest weaknesses through free agency and the draft.
The Bengals are going to enter the season with much the same offensive core, a new offensive line, and several early-round rookies helping with depth on defense. Even with the key additions made during the offseason, Cincinnati still has a few moves that should be made.
A disclaimer on each of these moves is that the Bengals are going to need to be very mindful of salary cap space moving forward. Joe Burrow is going to be up for a contract extension along with Tee Higgins and then Ja’Marr Chase the following year. With this forwarding thinking, the Bengals should not be interested in taking on long-term contracts, but should instead focus on improving the team on one-year deals.
With that in mind, here are the three moves the Cincinnati Bengals should make before the season starts.
All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference
Trey Flowers (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
Adding pass rush help
In the modern NFL, teams cannot have enough pass-rushing options. Last year the Bengals had moments where they seemed to go quiet in their ability to get to the opposing quarterback. Typically one of the highest paid positions, this might seem counterintuitive to saving money. However, there is one player left that could be looking for a short prove-it type deal.
Trey Flowers was released this year and has been on the free agent market since the beginning of the new league year began. Only 29 years old, Flowers could have several more high-productive years ahead of him. Rather than lock him up on a long-term deal, the Bengals could offer a one-year contract so Flowers can hit the market again next year.
The biggest question mark around Flowers (and presumably the reason he is still on the market) is health concerns. With quality players on the roster already, Cincinnati could weather an injury to Flowers without damaging their starting rotation.
There seems to really only be an upside by adding Flowers to the rotation and seeing if he is able to stay on the field and bring back his quality results. The Bengals get a win by adding short-term depth, and Flowers gets a win by having the ability to perform well and hit the market again next year on a long-term deal.