The Cincinnati Bengals have made some positive moves in free agency, but are those transactions enough to ensure the defense shows meaningful improvement in 2026?
That much is unclear. Much depends on swapping out the combo of Trey Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai for Boye Mafe at defensive end. Seems as if Cincinnati could use at least one more player at that spot, whether it's through the draft or free agency's second wave.
Bryan Cook should be a big upgrade at safety over Geno Stone. Jonathan Allen provides a necessary interior pass rush threat.
Still, what's the answer at nose tackle? T.J. Slaton? And are the Bengals seriously rolling with Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. as starting linebackers? To date, that appears to be the case, especially after the latest PR spin out of Bengals HQ.
Bengals official site clues fans in to organization's mindset — and it's not great!
I realize that Bengals dot com reporter Geoff Hobson is just doing his job. Not trying to blast the messenger here. It's more about the message itself projected by the franchise.
In a piece about Cincinnati's free agency haul thus far, Hobson's excerpt about Duke Tobin's roster-building approach is alarming to say the least.
"The signing of free agency's top safety in the Chiefs' Bryan Cook and the plucking of two pass rushers in Vikings defensive tackle Jonathan Allen and Seahawks edge Boye Mafe are designed to enhance the emergence of players such as defensive linemen Myles Murphy, Shemar Stewart and Kris Jenkins, cornerbacks Dax Hill and DJ Turner II, linebackers Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter and safety Jordan Battle. It's another year of improvement from those young players that Tobin says is as important as the impact of the new free agents, and makes him believe that a playoff defense is in the making."
Hobson then cites quotes from Tobin's season-ending press conference, when he underscored the progress made by Myles Murphy and Jordan Battle in 2025. And yes, that's great and all, but they really started to come on when Cincinnati was all but out of reach from the playoff picture.
Whether it's the intention or not, there's a problematic, illogical, borderline delusional conflation of the improvement from Murphy, Battle, and DJ Turner with the hypothetical upside of Knight, Carter, and Shemar Stewart.
While it's awesome to see Murphy, Turner and Battle come into their own, they took until Year 3 to arrive. The 2026 season is perhaps the most important in franchise history, because it sets the tone for Joe Burrow's future trajectory, and whether he'll want to play in Cincinnati for the long haul.
We can't be waiting until 2027 to see the light finally go on for Stewart, Knight, and/or Carter.
Another thing about this write-up: 2024 second-round defensive tackle Kris Jenkins Jr. was, in essence, booted from the rotation once Allen signed on the dotted line. Allen will be splitting reps with veteran B.J. Hill. Where exactly does Jenkins fit in to contribute at all? And how on Earth is his "emergence" going to be "enhanced" in that context?
One question begs another. And it'd be one thing if Knight and Carter weren't the worst linebacker tandem in the NFL last season. If one of them was, say, middle-of-the-pack, I could buy a Year 2 leap narrative. Sadly, that wasn't the case!
Big names like Bobby Wagner could still fill the Bengals' void of veteran leadership at linebacker. The draft is still to come in a month.
I don't know though, y'all. The messaging from 1 Paycor Stadium suggests the front office is content to all but stand pat for now. Let's see how that works out.