It's no secret that the Cincinnati Bengals' linebackers are one of the worst groups in the league. On a historically bad defense, the linebacker corps stands out — and not in a good way.
Rookies Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter have been bottom of the barrel. You expect first-year players to struggle, but they've been egregiously bad. It's especially troubling for the second-round pick Knight, because he is 25 years old, and should be a more polished player than he is.
Oren Burks sits behind them, but even when he's seen the field the results have been, at best, underwhelming. Joe Giles-Harris has been a great special teamer, yet has only played four snaps on defense. Even amid more recent struggles, it's clear Logan Wilson was the best in this room, and Cincinnati traded him to Dallas on the day of the trade deadline.
The rest of the defense has been bad, too, but at least there's something to look forward to at the other positions. In the secondary, DJ Turner II is having an All-Pro caliber season and Dax Hill is having a solid, healthy year. For the EDGEs, Myles Murphy is finally coming alive in Year 3, Joseph Ossai has been great these last few weeks, and even players like Cedric Johnson are proving their worth as a rotational pieces for the future.
What is there to look forward to among this linebacker group? Barrett Carter is still young; he could break out, but that's becoming harder and harder to picture with each passing week.
If the Bengals want to bolster this room and attempt to fix what has been their biggest weakness this season through the draft, why not look in their own backyard and pick from one of the best defensive units in all of college football?
All stats courtesy of Sports Reference CFB.
The Bengals should have Ohio State LB Sonny Styles on their draft board come April
Unsurprisingly, the Ohio State defense is full of studs, game wreckers that can potentially be the saving grace of a lowly defense. Arvell Reese and Caleb Downs are the cream of the crop on this defense, both projected to go in the top 10 and potentially within the first five picks. Those two can single-handedly raise the floor of a unit, and will have fans of the lowly teams pounding the table for their teams to draft them.
The Bengals may be sitting at 4-9 and with a shot at the playoffs basically out of the window, but they're not going to lose out, even if it may be in their best interest.
With the rest of the schedule including games against the Dolphins, Cardinals, and rematches against the Ravens and Browns, both at home, they'll almost certainly win, at worst, two of their last four. Even sitting at 6-11, there are likely still at least 10 teams with a worse record than them, which might put them just out of reach to draft Downs or Reese.
Linebacker Sonny Styles, on the other hand, should be very much available if that scenario were to play out.
Styles may not be as highly-touted or have the same pedigree as Downs or Reese, but he is a great piece on an incredible defense. He has production (180 tackles, 15.5 TFL, 9 passes defended in the last two season), he plays hard, has great IQ/play recognition, and has the advanced stats to back up the eye test, including zero (!!!) missed tackles this season, according to PFF.
To expand off that missed tackles stat, there are currently four Bengals in the top 10 in missed tackles, including Demetrius Knight Jr. (5th) and Barrett Carter (10th). Drafting Sonny Styles would show immediate improvement in that area.
The only reason I can really see them being turned away from drafting the fourth year Buckeye is that they just selected two linebackers in the 2025 draft. However, unless Knight and Carter really start to flash some potential over these last couple weeks-- and even then, I'd personally be wary-- they shouldn't let that prevent them from getting someone who can really turn this unit around, especially if that someone is filling the biggest hole on this roster.
Do you think the Bengals should take Sonny Styles if he's available when it's their turn to pick? Getting an elite tackler to help a defense that can't tackle sounds like a good idea.