What a start it was for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2026. They beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday with a 33-27 performance, which has made the NFL take notice and finally consider them a contender in the AFC. The top performers of the day were all on defense, which managed to force four turnovers during the game, including a scoop-and-score.
Duke Tobin and the front office will be delighted that their moves in the offseason have paid off, and that they've finally been able to back Joe Burrow with a competent defense. Cincinnati made a serious effort to upgrade the defense after two years when they really should've made the postseason, but their lack of defensive firepower let them down.
One of their big acquisitions in free agency was former Seahawks defensive end Boye Mafe, who just came off winning a Super Bowl with Seattle. The Bengals signed him as part of the revamp of their defensive line in the offseason, and he didn't disappoint against Tampa Bay.
Boye Mafe lived up to his expensive free-agent deal in the season opener
In his first regular-season game for the Bengals, Mafe put up a superb stat line. He recorded a sack, forced a fumble, and recovered a fumble in a game where Baker Mayfield was constantly wary of the defensive front.
Mafe's blend of speed and power makes him a fantastic rusher, and he showed in Week 1 that he can be a crucial player for this Bengals defense in 2026. Mafe's performance clearly didn't go unnoticed either. He was PFF's highest-graded Bengal defender in with a mark of 86.5.
It's not like there wasn't an expectation on Mafe either. The 27-year-old came in to essentially replace Trey Hendrickson on the edge, after he left to join the Ravens following his long-lasting contract saga at Paycor Stadium.
Mafe showed in Week 1 that he is as much of a threat to the opposition as Hendrickson was; combine that with the fact that the Bengals now have a very strong interior defensive line too, with Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen, and the sky really is the limit for this unit.
If he did anything, Mafe proved that the Bengals were right to spend big on him in free agency. He signed a three-year, $60 million contract with Cincy, and after one week, that's looking like an absolute steal. It's especially encouraging that he made such an immediate impact after being relegated to a rotational role in Seattle.
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