Cincinnati Bengals fans, I feel your pain. Trust me. I did everything in my power to will the team to invest in upgrades to their linebacker corps, but instead, they rolled with second-year pros Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. as their starters in 2026.
Through two games, that bold decision looked good enough. I get sticking by Knight and seeing things through since he was a second-round pick. I mean, he better take a leap forward in his sophomore season. Dude is 26 freaking years old already. I question how much upside is still left to explore there, but based on draft status alone, I get it.
Barrett Carter is an entirely different situation. He was a fourth-round pick. Day 3 of the draft. Wasn't a particularly dominant player at Clemson. Not some transcendent athlete, either.
Trade for Jordyn Brooks? Nah. Sign a prized free agent? Nope. My expectations are so low for Carter that he didn't even qualify for my weekly winners-losers piece despite his big hand in Sunday's 30-27 loss in Pittsburgh. However, Who Dey Nation is on the man's case right now.
Carter gets lit up by Bengals X/Twitter after myriad missed tackles in Week 3
Here's a mere sampling of the ire directed toward Cincinnati linebacker Barrett Carter in the aftermath of one of the Bengals' most disappointing losses in recent history.
- "Barrett Carter is a lost cause. Get him off the team." - @AadhiR3211
- "I’m not down on Knight, but my concerns about Barrett Carter remain the same." - @LndsPatterson
- "Barrett Carter was the worst NFL linebacker in 2025. The Bengals didn't cut or trade him. They didn't even bench him. THEY DIDN'T EVEN MAKE HIM COMPETE FOR HIS JOB. THEY DIDN'T EVEN BRING IN ANY COMPETITION. They saw what happened in 2025, and said, 'yeah we'll be ok in 2026'." - @AndreBengals
- "Barrett Carter will never learn how to tackle. What's the O/U on how many missed tackles from this week? I think he had at least 5." - @WillLewis_1976
- "The Bengals are playing the Bengals today. Just totally embarrassing. Much like playing Barrett Carter daily is." - @Nati_Sports
- "Barrett Carter… dude can’t seem to get a grasp on what gaps to take/hold. He’s just not “it” as an NFL starting LB." - @KevinMcCune
- "No clue if Bobby Wagner intends to keep playing or not but it is silly not to make the call if he wants to." - @BengalsBrews
To that last point: I tried to reverse jinx the Bengals into signing Bobby Wagner before training camp in July. That was probably the fifth different article I wrote about how dope it'd be to sign him this offseason. Alas, it would appear my powers of manifestation are not that strong.
Missed tackles were a known issue between Carter and Knight last season. That flaw was showing up somewhat in the first two games, but the Bengals were rallying to the ball well enough, or had built big enough leads, to sort of mask it.
I actually had Carter as one of the two "losers" from Week 2's 20-6 dismantling of the Texans in Houston. To me, he's a much better player than he was in 2025 nevertheless.
But again, banking on two historically bad rookies to make some massive progress to passable starter status in one offseason is a bet the Bengals probably regret making. I don't anticipate the starting lineup to change, or for Bobby Wagner to be signed, or for the far more athletic Swayze Bozeman to get any run whatsoever.
For whatever reason, the coaching staff is entrenched on not giving a second-year, Day 3 draft pick any serious competition to challenge him as the play-caller at the heart of the defense. Unnecessarily risky and a classic exercise in hubris if you ask me. Clearly the fans agree.
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