Over the past four seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals have finished above .500 each year. There was an appearance in Super Bowl LVI in 2021, and a trip to the AFC title game the following year.
Things are trending in the wrong direction, though. The club has finished 9-8 in each of the past two seasons, and in 2024 they ruined an all-time campaign from QB Joe Burrow, who led the NFL in passing yards (4,918) and TD tosses (43). Despite all that production, Cincinnati fell short of the postseason, held back by a defense that ranked among the very worst in the league.
The offense will once again be dynamite, with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins locked up for the foreseeable future. But unless something changes on the other side of the ball, the song will remain the same in Cincinnati, and the team's offseason doesn't inspire confidence so far.
Cincinnati’s defense has been a big problem the last two seasons
Mike Sando of The Athletic assessed all 16 AFC teams when it came to free agency, and spoke to numerous team executives. Keep in mind that the Bengals re-signed Chase (4 years, $161 million) and Higgins (4 years, $115 million) to lucrative contract extensions. Obviously, that’s a lot of money devoted to the offense.
Meanwhile, All-Pro defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who led the NFL with 17.5 sacks (the same total he came up with in 2023), can become a free agent after 2025, and has made noise about wanting to be traded. What do those in the know think about the Bengals’ offseason approach?
“They definitely needed to retain Chase, and then Higgins should have been a tag-and-trade candidate because you need the draft capital and you have to rebuild your defense,” explained one team executive. “You could have made Trey Hendrickson happy (with a new deal) and have a draft pick if you moved on from Higgins.”
Another executive had a similar take: “The thought of keeping their quarterback happy is good, but how can you build around him to get him where he needs to go? I’m going to go with fronts and defense over skill, especially when you already have one of the highest-paid receivers. To sign another one (Higgins) is interesting to me.”
The Bengals still have time and money to make Hendrickson happy, and the Burrow-Chase-Higgins trio will make them a tough out no matter what. But this is a movie we've seen play out before, and it doesn't seem like Cincy plans on making significant changes any time soon.
If the Bengals can’t fix their defense, it may be an interesting year in the Queen City in a much different way.