The Cincinnati Bengals are quickly hurtling toward realizing the most optimistic vision possible for the roster overhaul they executed this offseason. Leading the charge is a revamped defensive line led by Dexter Lawrence.
But what if I told you the D-line depth could be even better? It'd only take one simple change.
In the spirit of Joe Burrow's desire to manifest a Super Bowl, and his masterful tactical brain that translates to the chessboard, the gridiron, and roster-building Tetris alike, I'm here to propose that Landon Robinson play over Kris Jenkins Jr. in Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cincinnati's stacked defensive line could be more dynamic by playing Landon Robinson over Kris Jenkins Jr.
Kris Jenkins Jr. may have been a 2024 second-round pick, but he's hardly played like it since hitting the NFL. His father was an awesome player back in his heyday. The son is a far cry from him. Otherwise, this Bengals D-line would be legit unfair.
Although he's only a seventh-round rookie, Landon Robinson really broke out at training camp and the preseason. Robinson's stocky body type has drawn frequent comparisons to Bengals legend Geno Atkins, whose trainer Robinson was working with as far back as January, where my powers of manifesting Robinson in a Bengals uniform took root.
Just saying, if the trainer who trained Atkins and Robinson is saying there's an uncanny resemblance, maybe there is! Mayhaps!
And what have we seen from Jenkins to this point? Not much. He's not big enough to be a nose tackle, and the Bengals already have two effective players at that spot in Lawrence and T.J. Slaton. Jenkins is also not a transcendent enough athlete to be an imposing 3-technique.
I mean come on, Al Golden, what are we even doing here? A 4.3% pass rush win rate? Really?
PFF Pass Rush Win Rate for the Bengals DL vs Texans
— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) September 21, 2026
26.3% - Cedric Johnson 👀
20.0% - Boye Mafe
18.8% - Cashius Howell
13.2% - Dexter Lawrence
13.2% - Jonathan Allen
10.0% - Myles Murphy
4.3% - Kris Jenkins
Robinson has the versatility to play over the center, yet he also has plenty of twitch, lateral quickness, and raw power/explosiveness to bring real juice to the interior pass rush. That's not really the case with Jenkins, who's more of a stalemate specialist who can help others clean up.
Robinson seems to have real upside as a true playmaker on his own. He showed it as a first-team All-American at Navy, and did so again in the preseason.
Bengals rookie iDL Landon Robinson led the NFL in sacks during the preseason with 4 and was 1st among iDL with 10 pressures.
— Gridiron Grading (@GridironGrading) August 29, 2026
Checking in on his college production profile, filling the stat sheet with sacks and pressures was the highlight.
Sometimes it’s that simple. pic.twitter.com/FuBGm77G1x
Against a less-mobile opposing quarterback in the Steelers' Aaron Rodgers and his suspect offensive line, Robinson could be in line for a real coming-out party if he gets a shot to play in Pittsburgh.
I thought B.J. Hill's injury-induced absence from Week 2's win over the Texans almost for sure meant Robinson would be active for his NFL debut. Hill is doubtful this Sunday in Pittsburgh, and while Jonathan Allen is playing, he did land on the injury report with a knee issue.
It makes sense for the Bengals to keep Robinson active just in case Allen needs to be on more of a pitch count. At worst, play Robinson in garbage time if it's a blowout in Cincinnati's favor to get him some reps.
To me, there's a marginal difference between Jenkins and Robinson in terms of purely how good they are at football. Why not give the younger fella some run!?
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