It was the “most important offseason in franchise history” yet again. Last year, the Cincinnati Bengals had the best passing offense in the NFL. How much was due to Joe Burrow playing at an MVP level and how much was just out of necessity because the defense was just that awful? Either way, there were clear issues on the roster and, to this point, those issues have gone mostly unaddressed.
Despite that, ESPN’s Ben Solak thinks the Bengals’ offseason was one of the best in the NFL, ranking the team sixth.
ESPN Claims Bengals Offseason Improved Its Roster…Did It?
What Solak Has to Say
Each section has a “loved” and “didn’t love” bit and of the moves the Bengals made that Solak loved, it was mostly about retaining talent:
“Signing Chase and Higgins. One year ago, I would have told you it was fiscally impossible for the Bengals to get it done — and if not fiscally impossible, then still extremely unlikely, given how evidently frustrated both Chase and Higgins were with the franchise. Over the past couple of years, the Bengals have built up the cash to pay their star receivers, and quarterback Joe Burrow helped with some strong internal recruiting. An offensive trio of Burrow, Higgins, and Chase cements auto-contender status in Cincinnati.”
However, there were a few things about the Bengals offseason he wasn’t as much a fan of:
“The Bengals did well to pepper a thin defensive depth chart with good dice rolls — Oren Burks, T.J. Slaton, the return of Hill — but I was surprised they wanted Joseph Ossai back that badly. He had a 7.6% pressure rate last season — 72nd in the league among all defensive linemen — despite rushing opposite Trey Hendrickson, who was drawing disproportionate attention. It’s a cheap one-year deal, so I can’t get too upset about it.
The same is true with the Gesicki extension. The Bengals would be better with a tight end who can block, but I’m not too upset about his new deal given how he produced. This is a good class overall.”
Overall, it seems like the Bengals got better leading into the draft, right?
Where Solak Missed
In reality, Chase and Higgins were going to be Bengals in 2025 regardless. Chase was going to play on his fifth-year option and Higgins on his Franchise Tag. Would they likely have held out? It’s very possible. For as great as the extensions were – and, yes, they were the right moves – the Bengals did not get better as a team.
Adding Slaton and Burks were savvy moves that help out the defense that was among the worst in the NFL. Last year, the Bengals tried to play without a nose tackle. After years of D.J. Reader, there was a gaping hole in the middle of the defensive line.
However, who is going to play guard? The duo of Cordell Volson and Alex Cappa was easily the worst in the NFL. The team cut Cappa who went on to sign with the Las Vegas Raiders. The two moves they made? Cody Ford and Lucas Patrick. The Bengals are going into the draft, again, with a glaring need at guard and none of Volson, Ford, or Patrick as starter provide much confidence.
Brandon Scherff is still a free agent, as are Will Hernandez and Dalton Risner. The Bengals missed out on guys like Kevin Zeitler and Teven Jenkins who would have been clear upgrades, at least in the short-term.
The Bengals said that they didn’t want to field a more expensive version of last year’s team. To this point, that’s what it’s looking like. So, did the Bengals improve the roster this offseason? To this point, no, not really. They added what should be a backup guard and two okay defenders and that’s about it.
Burrow and the offense should be able to overcome as they did last year. But to say they got better is a bit odd. Re-signing the stars was the goal and something that had to be done but they were already on the team for 2025. Work still has to be done.
