The Cincinnati Bengals are nothing if not a cheap organization. Or at least that's the general, ongoing consensus amongst many who cover the NFL for a living.
Joe Burrow gets Rodney Dangerfield levels of respect despite carrying a franchise that'd be a complete joke without him. And yes, the core leadership who decides how to shape the roster has failed the Bengals time and again throughout their history due to excess frugality.
But times are changing in Cincinnati. The 2026 team has the look of a legit Super Bowl contender since they finally went all-in to rebuild the defense.
Alas, ESPN released some new "NFL Future Power Rankings" that assesses how teams will stack up from 2027 through 2029. the Bengals only checked in at No. 17, despite how promising this coming season looks.
Zac Taylor and Bengals front office put on blast in forward-looking power rankings
That implied cheapskate nature that follows the Bengals around like a bad stench extends to the implication that they could do far better at head coach. If you ask me, Zac Taylor has made the best of a difficult situation.
Taylor keeps the offense rolling when Burrow gets sidelined for extended periods of time. It's the defense that has let Cincinnati down in three years of failing to make the playoffs.
Thanks to the arrival of Dexter Lawrence and many others this offseason, that side of the ball should be massively improved. Nevertheless, ESPN's power ranking index gave the Bengals' coaching and front office respective scores of 76.75 and 72.75 out of 100, which ranked 23rd and 28th in the league.
Translation: This offseason was a mirage. Cincinnati will revert to their corner-cutting ways and keep Taylor despite the chance to land a far bigger name to oversee Burrow's presumptive prime.
Concerns about 2027 free-agent class are overblown
Although ESPN had the Bengals ranked as the 11th-best roster excluding QBs, one red flag raised was the fact that, by snap count, they have the NFL's largest free-agent class for next offseason.
A DJ Turner extension feels inevitable. It'd be weird if the Bengals did his deal and didn't keep Dax Hill, since they share the same agent.
The other players hitting the open market include Ted Karras and Dalton Risner from the offensive line. Rookies Connor Lew and Brian Parker II could easily be their successors. Neither would break the bank for new one-year contracts if the Bengals wanted to keep them anyway.
Samaje Perine is a No. 2 running back who's easily replaceable, all due respect to him. The only players the Bengals might lose are starting safety Jordan Battle and incumbent WR3 Andrei Iosivas. Battle is ascending, but even if he plays well in 2026, he shouldn't command a top-market deal. And Iosivas, as of now, is pretty much expendable.
Checkmate.
Rosy Joe Burrow forecast shows why Bengals remain underrated
With as much as people at the four-letter network and elsewhere love to knock Joe Burrow for his injuries, ESPN rates him at 91.75, aka a top-five quarterback.
If you're still willing to call Burrow a top-five QB, and acknowledge that it'd take a literal miracle for him to suffer any more serious injuries in the ensuing few seasons due to the mere Law of Averages, in what world are the Bengals the 17th-best team in the NFL in that span?
Such a ranking implies, more often than not, that Cincinnati will miss the playoffs. If the Bengals miss the postseason even once between now and 2028, Burrow is probably demanding a trade.
An elite QB can mask a franchise's shortcomings. Unfortunately, a dirt-poor offensive line, a poverty defense, and freak injuries derailed most of Burrow's 20s as an NFL player.
...And yet still, in a forward-looking list of NFL power rankings whose vision extends through 2029, Burrow is a top-five player at his position. And he's so good that he'll allegedly elevate an even more injured player, tight end Erick All Jr., to top-flight status, per ESPN's Seth Walder:
"Bold prediction for 2027-29: Tight end Erick All Jr. will finish in the top five in receiving yards at the position in at least one of these seasons. If All, who suffered a knee injury that cost him the back half of 2024 and all of 2025, can get healthy, he could turn into a real receiving option for Cincy behind Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. He'll have to clear Mike Gesicki on the depth chart first, but that shouldn't be too tall of a task."
Hope Seth is right on that one. So tired of seeing Drew Sample atop the tight end depth chart.
The fact that Sample likely won't be on the roster beyond this year is reason enough to be bullish on the Bengals being better than the 17th-best team in the sport. I say that in jest but only kind of.
What is wrong with people, Who Dey Heads? Do they not see how well this team is set up? If All really is a lethal weapon at tight end, and Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins keep balling out with Burrow at the controls, that alone is going to carry the Bengals to contention on an annual basis.
I guess it is true that the reality of any given business entity's brand can take years to catch up from a long-established reputation, especially a bad one. Time will tell if the Bengals have indeed turned a corner. I believe they have. And this is coming from someone who was relentless in bashing them over the last year and change.
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