One of the would-be most underrated free-agent signings of last offseason, made by none other than the oft bargain bin-scouring Cincinnati Bengals, wound up landing like a ton of anticlimactic bricks.
Does that metaphor make sense? Is a gaggle of falling bricks ever anticlimactic? Feels more like that tree falling in a forest scenario. Does it really make a sound if no one hears it? Ya know?
OK wow. We've already gotten far afield in this introduction. But when you're scraping the bottom of the barrel for offseason content, never mind clutching air for solutions to the Bengals' glaring linebacker problem, eloquence tends to fade in favor of existentialist verbal meandering.
Can Eagles Super Bowl-winning starting LB Oren Burks really be worse than what the Bengals are rolling with in 2026?
The answer to that question is a resounding yes! Or at least that's been the messaging from the Bengals personnel department's lack of moves at linebacker, and the endorsement the coaching staff evidently gave the likes of Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. despite disastrous rookie seasons.
We're all hoping for a "Knight and Dey" improvement, if you will, from our second-year linebackers here in Who Dey Nation. It's just baffling that Oren Burks hasn't been able to beat out someone like Carter for a starting role.
Burks came over from the Philadelphia Eagles last year, fresh off their successful Super Bowl run. More of a special teams ace throughout his career than anything else, Burks started in the Divisional Round, the NFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl in place of an injured Nakobe Dean and thrived.
It baffles me to no end that Burks couldn't carry that over to Cincinnati. Then again, the Eagles did have a phenomenal front seven, whereas the Bengals' horrid group allowed the most rushign ayrds in the NFL.
Nevertheless, Burks' experience and implicit superior football IQ should've landed him in the starting lineup, or at least allowed him to play with more efficacy than the likes of Carter or Knight in 2025.
...You would think. Instead, Burks registered an abysmal 30.3 PFF defensive grade — the worst among 88 qualifying linebackers. Seriously, dawg?
Disappointing as Knight and Carter have been to date, Burks is almost more of a flop. Cincinnati signed him to a two-year, $5 million deal that frankly looked like a steal. Nowadays, I wouldn't be shocked at all if Burks was released once the final 53-man roster cuts roll around.
Where's the Philly Oren Burks of 2024-25? Milk-carton missing. He's gotten it done on the biggest stages in the sport. Can he really not challenge Carter this year?
The Bengals haven't given up on Burks yet. That tells me they may be holding out hope that he can contribute in a big way, or at least as a third linebacker in base 4-3 defensive looks.
Dexter Lawrence's arrival and all he other defensive reinforcements somewhat rationalize why Cincinnati didn't upgrade at linebacker from Knight or Carter. Might that benefit Burks' play, too, to the point where he sneaks into the starting lineup? Part of me hopes so. If he doesn't, maybe that means Carter can be a passable NFL starter after all!
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