At 5-8, the Bengals are a longshot to get into the post-season. Not only would they have to win out, but they'd need some help from the teams in front of them. Particularly from the Denver Broncos, who are 8-5 and comfortably sit in the 7th seed -- a 7th seed that is the Bengals' most realistic path to the playoffs. Cincinnati will get a shot to make that gap narrower later this month as the two teams face off at Paycor Stadium in Week 17.
While you should never say never and playoff hopes are, technically, still alive, it's also important not to get your hopes up too high when the odds are so low. So, with such a pivotal offseason approaching that will tell fans just how serious this front office is about cultivating a winning culture, it would be smart to give some of the younger players on the roster more snaps during what is likely the final month of the NFL season for Cincy.
After all, there are a lot of needs that they will need to address come free agency and the draft, and if one of these young players shows that they can fulfill those needs, that's potentially one less position they need to focus on.
Before we start there are a few players that warrant mention that ultimately didn't make the final four selected for this article. Jordan Battle, with the criminally low amount of snaps he was getting in the first 8 weeks, would've been the first name here if the coaches kept giving him so little opportunity. However, since Week 8, Battle has played either about half the game or the majority of the game, reaching a season-high 87% of defensive snaps against the Cowboys on Monday night.
There's also Tanner McLachlan and Jermaine Burton, two rookies who have barely (or not at all, in McLachlan's case) seen the field. The reason they didn't make it boils down to the fact that the passing offense hasn't been struggling. In fact, Joe Burrow has been on a tear as of late, with 4 straight games with 3+ passing touchdowns and 300+ passing yards and it probably wouldn't be best to meddle with his targets drastically.
With that being said, here are four young Bengals players who should see the field a lot more over these last four weeks of the regular season.
Maema Njongmeta, Linebacker
With Logan Wilson, who was leading the Bengals in tackles before his injury, out for the year, the Bengals have gone with the North Carolinian duo of Germaine Pratt and Akeem Davis-Gaither to patrol the middle of the field. Since Wilson's injury, Pratt has played 100% of defensive snaps across a 2-game sample. Davis-Gaither, across the same sample size, has played 99% against Pittsburgh and 88% versus Dallas.
In comparison, undrafted free agent Maema Njongmeta has played just 3. Not 3%, 3 total snaps. All of which came against the Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
During the preseason, the UDFA out of Wisconsin garnered attention among the Bengals faithful due to his great play recognition and surefire tackling.He was even second among all players in tackles during the preseason, finishing with 27 across three games. With missed tackles being one of the biggest issues this defense has, Njongmeta should be seeing the field more.
While Akeem Davis-Gaither has been a solid depth piece and played well against Dallas, ending the game with 8 combined tackles and a pass defended, Njongmeta should be taking at least a little piece of his snap count moving forward. Especially since Davis-Gaither has a missed tackle percentage of 10, which is the highest among Cincinnati's linebackers who have played at least 100 snaps on defense this year.
Matt Lee, Center
Lee, the seventh-round pick out of Miami University, is the only player in this article on offense. While the offense is having the best year it's had since Burrow was drafted, the same woes always seem to plague Cincinnati: The offensive line. This year, it's been the interior offensive line specifically. Orlando Brown Jr. was having a career year before injury, Amarius Mims has shown what it takes to be a franchise tackle, and Ted Karras has been as solid as they come at center.
As for the guards? It hasn't been pretty. Alex Cappa hasn't been the same since suffering an ankle injury during the 'coin flip game' against the Ravens in the final week of the 2022 regular season, and Cordell Volson is either getting a holding penalty or being dominated every other play.
Ted Karras originally played guard in New England. This has led a lot of fans to suggest having Lee take over at center, in turn pushing Karras over to guard and kicking either Cordell Volson or Alex Cappa to the bench.
After all, Lee had a phenomenal preseason and was labeled the steal of the draft for Cincinnati by many. Even if the Bengals were mathematically eliminated from the postseason, Burrow wouldn't sit out the rest of the season, so coaches should still be doing everything they can to keep him upright and having Matt Lee start could help achieve just that.
Daijahn Anthony, Tycen Anderson, Safeties
The Bengals' play at safety has been incredibly disappointing this year. Geno Stone, a signing many were excited about, has not played up to expectations and had what was probably his first good game of the season against the Cowboys this past week. Similarly, Vonn Bell's second stint in Cincinnati has fallen flat. They've struggled in coverage and have been liabilities when it comes to tackling, with Bell sporting a 10.9% missed tackle percentage, while Stone is all the way up at 17.6%!
It took until halfway through the season before they started utilizing Jordan Battle, who finished his rookie season strong. The defensive back room as a whole has just been a mess between injuries and subpar play. Sometimes, having a new approach can help fix things, even if only slightly.
Tycen Anderson has had an incredible year on special teams. He's been sensational in his gunner role, which pairs well with Ryan Rehkow's booming punts. He's fast and he can tackle. Does that mean it'd translate to a bigger role on defense? Not necessarily. Should the Bengals still give him a shot at safety? Yes.
With how Stone and Bell have struggled this year, they might as well give Anderson the chance, just to see what he can do. If not him, then there's also 7th-rounder Daijahn Anthony out of Ole Miss, who has had exactly two notable plays this season. One was the pass interference against the Chiefs in Week 2 that ultimately led to a Harrison Butker game-winning field goal. The other came two weeks later against the Panthers, where he broke up a pass on a fake punt, giving the offense incredible field position.
All that to say, like Anderson, we don't really how good or bad Anthony is. Either way, the Bengals are going to have to address safety this offseason, why not put one of these young guys in and see if they maybe don't have to approach this need as aggressively as they thought?