Barrett Carter's improved coverage, subpar tackling could be exposed vs. Steelers

The Cincinnati Bengals came into the 2026 NFL season counting on second-year linebacker Barrett Carter to improve over last year's rookie performance.

The Bengals organization seems to trust Carter a lot, to the point that he is the designated green-dot wearer who receives all of Al Golden’s defensive calls.

Over two games, Carter has shown improvement in some areas, but not enough in others. However, one of the ways in which he is developing will come in handy against Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Pat Freirmuth. But that only matters if he can take a substantial step toward ameliorating the area where he still struggles.

Steelers will test Carter early and often

The Pittsburgh Steelers' offense is struggling, to say the least. Over the first two weeks of the season, they have scored the fewest points in the NFL (23), trailing the Miami Dolphins by three points.

The Steelers rank 30th in total yards, 30th in passing yards, and 29th in rushing yards. While they will need to rely on their defense, one of the best in the NFL, they'll eventually have to start scoring points. The best way to do that on Sunday is to attack where Cincinnati's defense is most vulnerable.

Unfortunately for the Bengals, Pittsburgh has Pat Freiermuth, who is looking to make an impact. And the Steelers are likely to give him every opportunity to do so, much to the delight of fantasy football players and degenerate gamblers. 

This season, Freiermuth has nine receptions for 78 yards and one touchdown. This is the only touchdown of the season for the Steelers. 

More than likely, Carter will cover Freiermuth whenever defensive coordinator Al Golden goes to man coverage, which could showcase how the Bengals' young linebacker has improved while also exposing where he has not.

Carter’s coverage improvement comes at a good time

Last season, Carter was targeted 70 times in pass coverage, for an average of 4.1 targets per game. He allowed 54 completions for 691 yards, a 77.1 completion percentage, 12.8 yards per reception, three touchdowns, and a quarterback rating of 115.8. 

So far this season, he has been targeted 13 times, which puts him on pace to be targeted 110.5 times over 17 games. However, over two games, he is holding up much better in pass coverage, allowing a 61.5 completion percentage, 11.1 yards per completion, and a quarterback rating of 81.9.

Still, no matter what the advanced stats say, the Steelers, as will other teams, will likely keep targeting Carter in the passing attack until he continues to show he is much improved in that area. 

However, if he can keep performing as he has this season, rather than as we witnessed in 2025, teams may start looking elsewhere for an advantage. 

But that is not to say that there isn’t substantial room for Carter in the coverage department. 

Carter’s tackling remains a glaring concern

While his improvement in coverage is noticeable, Carter has not improved enough for the fans’ and, surely, the coaches’ liking in his tackling. 

Every receiver in the NFL is going to make plays against defenders. Such is the nature of the game. What happens once the ball carrier becomes a runner is more critical, and that is where Carter continues to struggle. 

While most Bengals fans concentrated on the players with the most, third-most, and eighth-most missed tackles last year, Carter accumulated the 10th-most missed tackles in the NFL.

If you forgot, those aforementioned rankings belonged to Geno Stone, Jordan Battle, and Demetrius Knight, respectively.

Everyone in Cincinnati hopes those missed tackles will drop drastically after replacing Stone with Bryan Cook. But other question marks remain.

A year ago, Carter's missed tackle rate was 13.8%. After two games in 2026, his missed tackle rate is a whopping 23.5%. That rate would be the second-worst in 2025, and above Sone’s 20.0%.

There is still a lot of the season left for Carter to get his missed tackle rate down. There is also plenty of time for that not to happen. Hopefully the former will be the case rather than the latter. 

Nevertheless, with Pittsburgh next up, the Steelers must find ways to jump-start their laboring offense. The best way to do that is to target Freiremuth underneath. But when that inevitably happens, Carter must be better at containing him to just the reception and not allowing crucial yards after the catch on critical downs.

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