It's officially panic-button time for Cincinnati Bengals supporters. Free agency got off to a nice start with the signings of Bryan Cook and Boye Mafe at safety and defensive end respectively, but to not have any answers at defensive tackle or linebacker is indefensible.
This Bengals defense isn't a playoff-caliber unit even with Cook and Mafe joining the fold. They're a couple players away at least. Will those contributors come from the draft this year? History says no!
Would love to see Duke Tobin and the Cincinnati leadership have a little more urgency. Alas, one very good solution to the long-standing interior pass rush problem is now off the board.
49ers punk Bengals in trade for Cowboys star DT Osa Odighizuwa
I swear to you, literal hours ago I wrote a mad-dash Bengals mock draft where they traded up for Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles in Round 1, and scored Osa Odighizuwa in a trade involving their third-round pick. What a short shelf life that piece had!
Hope still lives that Styles can be had in the first round. Unfortunately, per Fox Sports' Jordan Schultz, the trade market is no more for Odighizuwa thanks to the San Francisco 49ers.
What was the compensation, you ask? Oh, a third-round pick.
OverTheCap.com lists San Francisco with a mere $6.78 million in 2027 cap space before this trade for one of the NFL's premier pass rushing defensive tackles. Odighizuwa's contract that he signed last year is worth $80 million over four years.
The Bengals could've created $19+ million in cap room this year by restructuring Joe Burrow, which he's stated publicly that he's willing to do. They opted not to, and have a projected $114+ million to work with for offeason.
That mere juxtaposition between San Francisco and Cincinnati highlights what it means for a team to truly be all-in for a Super Bowl. It seems the Bengals will cross their fingers on B.J. Hill's health, his ability to play every humanly possible snap, and a whole lot of hope as far as generating a pass rush between their defensive ends.
Is anyone else just sick to their stomachs over this? Same story, different year for the Bengals. Why should any of us be surprised at this point?
Who is Cincinnati going to draft in Round 3 who comes close to making Odighizuwa's impact? I'm at my wits end so I'll just self-quote my aforementioned mock draft to underscore how much of a missed opportunity not trading for Odighizuwa — never mind John Franklin-Myers!
"Odighizuwa is miles better than any current Cincinnati defensive tackle at rushing the passer. His PFF pass rush grades the last three years are as follows: 80.0, 78.5 and 71.5. Even in his "down" year of 2025, Odighizuwa's pass rush win rate of 13.6% bested the likes of Franklin-Myers, Quinnen Williams, Zach Allen, Moro Ojomo, Jalen Carter, and Milton Williams to name several notables."
For those holding out hope for a Jalen Carter trade, I say this to you, "Why is a savvy deal-maker like Eagles GM Howie Roseman even considering a trade for someone with Carter's elite talent?"
Might wanna think about that one before pulling the trigger. Roseman has been on the right end of so many trades over many years. Duke Tobin is a complete and utter joke by comparison. You talk about a man who's willing to go all-in for the Lombardi Trophy. Perhaps no one embodies that mindset better than Howie.
Anyway, carry on with your evenings. I know I will — albeit in quiet disappointment, gritting my teeth over how asleep at the wheel the Bengals front office is (again).