Only two teams remain in the playoffs from the AFC, and the Cincinnati Bengals are a far cry from being one of them. That is frustrating, especially since the Bengals only lost 26-20 to the New England Patriots with backup quarterback Joe Flacco leading the offense.
New England taught Cincinnati a lesson in that Week 12 meeting. Or at least sent a painful reminder of a message: If you're wise but proactive in free agency and draft in accordance with what you procure from there, you can turn things around in a hurry.
So how did the Pats go from a one-and-done head coach in Jerod Mayo to a 14-3 mark under Mike Vrabel? Well for one, Vrabes is one of the best coaches in the business. More importantly, there was a clear plan for the offseason that was executed to perfection.
How Bengals can mirror Patriots' 2025 offseason for massive leap forward in 2026
In scrolling through the Notes app on my phone, I stumbled upon this. Ranking my favorite (and least favorite) 2025 NFL Draft classes. Dated April 26, 2025 at 9:17 p.m. Hunt me down in the wild and I'll pull it up if you don't believe me.
My three favorites were as follows, in order: Browns, Giants, Patriots. Rounding out the bottom four, aka the "not great" category? Bengals, 49ers, Dolphins, and Vikings.
Everything in the NFL orbits around the quarterback. The Pats and Bengals both have a superstar. Difference being, Joe Burrow is in his prime, and Drake Maye is still up-and-coming. But like Burrow, Maye could be playing in a Super Bowl in his second year as a pro.
Although the pay disparity between Burrow and Maye is vast, we saw how the latter fared as a rookie with little to no support around him. In fact, Maye might've been the only redeemable pick in his entire draft class. Year 2 was/is a whole different story.
Credit Maye for his own development, but also credit Vrabel and the Patriots brain trust for putting him in the best positions possible to thrive. That's not something the Bengals have done for Burrow for the vast majority of his career. Hence burning the past three years of what should be his apex on two major injuries with zero playoff appearances to show for the trouble.
Impressive as the Pats' free agent haul was, they crushed the draft just about as hard. We'll dive into both those and how they're interconnected now.
The Patriots had such a strong free agent class to help get them to this point.
— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) January 18, 2026
Stefon Diggs, Milton Williams, K'Lavon Chaisson, Garrett Bradbury, Carlton Davis, Robert Spillane, Harold Landry, Jack Gibbens, Khyiris Tonga, Mack Hollins, Morgan Moses
They also got the 5th best…
You might've noticed the Bengals have a problem at the safety position. It's been this way since Jessie Bates left for Atlanta in free agency after the 2022 campaign.
How did the Patriots fix their safety room? Easy. Just signed Jaylinn Hawkins to a one-year deal worth $1.8 million, and drafted Cal's Craig Woodson in the fourth round. They're the seventh- and 21st-best safeties in football this year, per PFF's grades.
Guess where the Bengals' Jordan Battle and Geno Stone check in on that hierarchy? Sixty-second and 78th respectively. Out of 96 total players.
I wonder if employing more people in the front office and as scouts gives New England a leg up to find mid-round gems like Woodson and absurd free-agent steals like Hawkins. Hmm. Makes you think.
While I waited for Godot aka Joseph Ossai to finally come on in his fourth NFL season — and the same goes for 2023 first-rounder Myles Murphy as a third-year pro —the Pats were busy signing K'Lavon Chaisson in free agency.
The past Jags first-round pick has 10.5 sacks in 18 games for New England, including three in two playoff contests.
Here was the Patriots' most notable open-market signing from last offseason, though: Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl champ Milton Williams. Four years, $104 million. Worth every penny. Nothing close to what the Bengals would ever pay for a defensive tackle — and yet that position persists as a dire need in perpetuity.
Oh and I love this. The Bengals played rookies Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter as starting linebackers for most of 2025. They were dreadful. New England free agent Robert Spillane was a top-15 linebacker, per PFF, with the eighth-best run defense grade.
Never mind that drafting Knight and Carter made no sense to begin with. Cincinnati already had Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, and Oren Burks among other under contract!
Read More: Bengals draft pick has fans questioning everything after only one season
A couple other notables who the Pats scooped up on the open market with big paydays: Veteran receiver Stefon Diggs and cornerback Carlton Davis. Diggs had 85 receptions for over 1,000 yards. Davis now forms perhaps the NFL's bets boundary corner tandem with Christian Gonzalez.
Perhaps the biggest area New England had to upgrade was in the offensive trenches to protect Maye. This yielded first- and third-round picks Will Campbell and Jared Wilson to play left tackle and left guard respectively. It also led to the free-agent acquisitions of right tackle Morgan Moses and center Garrett Bradbury. All of them serviceable starters.
Campbell lived up to his first-round draft status. Woodson was a diamond in the rough from the fourth round. Second-round tailback TreVeyon Henderson gave the Pats an explosive element to their rushing attack they simply didn't have before.
No overthinking involved here. You get what you pay for in free agency. So pay. Do something, Bengals.
By far the best Bengals free agent from last year was the last-minute signing of Dalton Risner. Otherwise, their splashy move was for pedestrian, replacement-level nose tackle T.J. Slaton. Woof, yo.
The Patriots just let it rip. They were super aggressive with free agents, and smart without any major reaches in the draft.
In a Bengals offseason that Joe Burrow has labeled "as big as it gets", it's time for Cincinnati to go big or go home. Otherwise, what are we even doing? Just spinning our wheels toward mediocrity? Look how fast the Pats rallied from an inevitable decline of a two-decade dynasty and six Super Bowls. They're already back and hungry for more.