For the second year in a row, the Bengals will be watching the playoffs from the couch. After a disastrous 4-8 start, the team rallied and took advantage of a fairly weak end-of-the-season schedule to win 5 straight and stay alive in the hunt. However, following the Broncos' win over the Chiefs' B-team, they were eliminated from post-season contention despite career years from Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Trey Hendrickson. As Burrow put it: Failure.
Last year had the excuse of losing Burrow midway through the season to explain the lack of a playoff berth. 2024, though? There are no excuses, just a comedy of errors at every level, and by the time they corrected them, they were already standing in front of their graves, ready to dive in. While certainly not the worst season in recent Bengals' memory (2019, 2020), it is easily one of the most disappointing and painful seasons, with seven of their eight losses being by one score. The underwhelming season has resulted in the firing of a few coaches, most notably former defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.
Many factors led to the letdown that was the Bengals' 2024 season, not least of which is letting homegrown stars like Jessie Bates III walk without a solid contingency plan. However, pinpointing which is the biggest reason is a little more difficult. One thing that has been, and most likely will continue to be, a conversation point, however, is their 2024 free agency additions. A group of players that fans were excited to see in stripes, most of whom had seasons that were letdowns themselves due to injury, poor performance, or both.
So, let's analyze these signings and see how big of an impact-- positive or negative-- they made on the Bengals' uninspiring 2024 season.
Trent Brown: 1 year, $4.75 million
The idea with the Trent Brown signing was that Burrow would have another solid tackle opposite of Orlando Brown Jr. while the Bengals' first-round selection, Amarius Mims, developed behind him, hence the one-year deal. However, sometimes things don't go as planned and this is signing is a perfect example of that.
Three years into his first and presumably only season with Cincy, Brown suffered a knee injury against the Commanders on Monday Night Football. It'd turn out to be season-ending, and Amarius Mims became the starter for the rest of the year. This is the hardest one to grade considering there's only a three-game sample size and the contract is so small small (relative to other NFL contracts) that it doesn't feel like the Bengals ended up losing much in terms of value. What they lost ended up being offensive line depth, which was nearly exhausted by the end of the season.
Grade: Incomplete
Sheldon Rankins: 2 years, $24.5 million
Unlike Brown, Sheldon Rankins was signed to serve a much bigger role for Cincinnati and was looked at as a much more crucial signing. The Bengals lacked pass rush from anyone not named Trey Hendrickson in 2023, especially from the interior. So, the Bengals signed Rankins hoping he could generate that for them. As we all know, it did not pan out.
In the seven games Rankins ended up playing between being injured and being ill, he was not the savior of the interior pass rush that so many fans were hoping and expecting he'd be. He only ended up recording one sack, which came against their in-state rivals in Week 7, and overall was a non-factor as a pass rusher and was even worse against the run. To add insult to injury, the year before Rankins sacked Burrow 3x as many times in one game when the Bengals played the Texans in 2023. That performance likely led to the front office picking him up.
After such an abysmal season that was marred by injury and illness, most people are expecting Rankins to be cut this offseason.
Grade: F
Vonn Bell: 1 year, $1.21 million
Bell's second stint in Cincinnati wasn't nearly as graceful as his first. He clearly lost a step since the last time he was seen in stripes, consistently struggled with tackling (9.8% missed tackle percentage, 2nd highest of his career), and also in coverage (108.8 passer rating allowed when targeted). All of this eventually led to Bell being moved back a spot on the depth chart in favor of 2nd year safety Jordan Battle midway through the season.
The thing about the Bell signing is it didn't have to be a bad one. On such a small contract, it would have been perfectly acceptable to have him as a depth piece and a veteran presence in a young safety room. Instead, the coaches tried to force something that didn't work, having him start and making a bad defense even worse, only for it to look notably better once they finally gave his snaps to a younger player who had already shown a lot of promise the year before.
That being said, Bell still had the ability to occasionally make a splash play here and there, including an interception against the Panthers in Week 4 and forcing a fumble at the goal line vs the Browns in Week 16.
Grade: D
Zack Moss: 2 years, $8 million
Another signing that had their season cut short due to injury and was underwhelming even when he was playing (are you seeing a theme yet?), Moss was meant to complete a running back tandem with Chase Brown following the departure of long-time Bengal Joe Mixon. However, the run game struggled to get off the ground whenever he got significant carries over Brown, especially in the first few weeks when Brown's opportunities were very limited. It was only once the second-year back out of Illinois started to get significantly more touches, which was about Week 6 vs. the Giants, that the run game improved noticeably.
Then, a few weeks later in Cincinnati's lone White Tiger game of 2024 against the Eagles, Moss would suffer a neck injury that'd cause him to miss the rest of the season, potentially marking the end of his time in Cincinnati.
While Moss didn't end up being the splash signing to replace Mixon, and was ultimately overshadowed by Chase Brown's breakout season, he did offer value in the passing game, both as a receiver and especially as a blocker. If he hadn't gotten injured, his abilities in the ladder category would have likely helped the Bengals' pass-blocking woes that got worse as the season went on. Alas, Moss ended up being yet another underwhelming signing in an offseason full of them.
Grade: D+
Geno Stone -- 2 years, $14 million
Like the Sheldon Rankins signing, picking up Geno Stone was a move that the Bengals desperately needed to pay off. After both Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell departed in the 2023 offseason, safety play was one of the Bengals' many weak points during their 2023 season and was arguably their worst position. Daxton Hill's transition to safety at the professional level ended up failing despite some flashes here and there, and Nick Scott struggled immensely until he was also benched for Jordan Battle.
Enter, Geno Stone. In 2023, Stone led the AFC in interceptions and even got one off Burrow in the Bengals' first meeting against the Ravens, leading the Bengals to sign him in an attempt to fix one of their biggest flaws. It did not work.
Whenever a big play was made by the opposing offenses, it felt like Stone was one of the main culprits, whether it be getting blown by in coverage or failing to make tackles downfield. He had given up five touchdowns and his missed tackle percentage stood at 15.6% by the end of the year. So, what happened? Well, considering he was a 7th-round pick and immediately saw a drop-off in performance coming to Cincy, chances are his great 2023 campaign was more so a product of the Ravens' defensive coordinator at the time, Mike Macdonald.
Stone did have a solid stretch of games near the end of the year, including getting an interception in three straight games. However, that stretch came against some of the worst offenses and QBs in the National Football League (Cooper Rush, Will Levis, and Dorian Thomspon-Robinson). If this season ends up being his only one in stripes, it won't be that stretch of quality play that will be remembered, but instead a season full of disappointing play.
Grade: D
Mike Gesicki: 1 year, $2.5 million
While the theme of the 2024 offseason has turned out to be 'disappointment' for the Bengals, Mike Gesicki was an outlier. In his first (and hopefully not last) season with the Bengals, Gesicki finished with 65 receptions for 665 yards and 2 touchdowns, which is the most production the Bengals have gotten out of the tight end position during the Joe Burrow era and the most since Tyler Eifert's 2015 season. Although Gesicki was listed at tight end, he was more so a replacement for Tyler Boyd, as he lined up in the slot more than where traditional tight ends line up.
While Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins were the stars of the show at receiver as they have been for the last few years, Gesicki served the underappreciated role of being the guy Burrow could count on whenever either one of them were injured or struggling, and it led to Gesicki having some memorable performances in 2024. Notably against the Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos, Eagles, and the season finale in Pittsburgh.
If there's one player the Bengals signed in 2024 that the front office should actually consider bringing back, it's Gesicki. Fans want it and even Burrow himself does as well. Unsurprisingly, he earns the best grade of any of the Bengals' free agency additions.
Grade: A-
Considering no one other than Gesicki got higher than a 'D', analyzing the major additions the Bengals' had this offseason provides a lot of insight into why this season was as disappointing as it was. Hopefully, their approach to the 2025 season proves more sound.