The Cincinnati Bengals have seen a common theme with their rosters over the past few years. The defense leaves plenty to be desired, while the offense has to play a near-perfect contest for the team to have a real shot of winning.
The Bengals knew they couldn't enter the 2026 season without making significant changes to the defense, and they surely did that with the flurry of moves they made on the defensive line. And those additions caught the attention of ESPN's Ben Solak.
In his latest article, Solak ranked the top 10 positions that upgraded this offseason, and he put the Bengals' defensive line at No. 7. For a team that badly needed juice upfront, getting this recognition is nice, as Cincinnati upgraded an obvious weakness on its roster.
Bengals defensive line upgrades earn praise from ESPN's Ben Solak
In that piece, Solak pointed out some concerning stats. In 2025, the Bengals were last in pass rush win rate (28.8 percent). Aside from pass rush, the defensive front couldn't even slow down the run to give the pass rush a chance. For rushes of zero and negative yards, the Bengals had a 10.2 percent per Next Gen Stats, which is the worst mark over the last five years.
That was staggering, which is why the additions of Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen will help. While they lost Trey Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai in free agency, they refilled that room with Boye Mafe and Cashius Howell.
The defensive front needed reinforcements after being tied for 28th in team sacks (35) last season. The sack leader for this team in 2025 was Myles Murphy, who finished with 5.5. That is nowhere good enough for a team that wants to be one of the best in the AFC. Instead of taking the conservative approach, Cincinnati made some swings.
The biggest was giving up the 10th overall pick to the New York Giants in exchange for Lawrence. When healthy, he's one of the few defensive tackles in the NFL who can truly dominate on the interior. He can command double teams to free up one-on-ones for other players on the defensive line.
If Lawrence regains his All-Pro form, the Bengals are getting a top-three DT, and it's clear they believe that will happen with the compensation they gave up. Meanwhile, Allen is another pass-rushing threat from the interior, and he'll rotate with T.J. Slaton Jr. and B.J. Hill.
Off the edge, Maye racked up 20 sacks in four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. In addition, Howell brings twitchiness and speed to the pass rush room. Cincinnati's defensive line now has different builds and archetypes.
The caliber of players they acquired should certainly raise the floor of the unit and give this defense the massive boost it needed.
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