The Cincinnati Bengals had one of the best scoring defenses in the NFL last season, finishing tied for fifth with the Dallas Cowboys. Repeating that in 2023 was going to be challenging though.

Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo saw his unit take a hit via free agency in the secondary. Despite a veteran signing and a draft pick used on the position, the safety spot in Cincinnati still isn't secure as far as experience and production. 

Dalton Wasserman and Jim Wyman of Pro Football Focus on why Cincinnati's biggest weakness is the safety situation:

Cincinnati lost both starting safeties Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell to free agency this past offseason. Replacing them are 2022 first-rounder Daxton Hill and former Rams safety Nick Scott, as well as 2023 third-rounder Jordan Battle. All three safeties are currently unproven commodities, which could lead to some big plays for opposing offenses.

Scott played sparingly his first two seasons logging just 208 snaps. In his third season in 2021, when he won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams, Scott was very solid with 47 tackles, two interceptions, and four passes defended on the year.

As a seventh-round pick, Scott entered a contract season in 2022, and he drove the price for his services up. Scott started 16 out of 17 games and tallied 86 tackles, two interceptions, five passes defended, and two forced fumbles. 

Now that he has his first lucrative payday, which he earned, Scott just has to prove that he can sustain it regularly.

Hill appeared in 15 games as a rookie but only registered two starts and played just 131 defensive snaps. Now, with Bates and Bell out of the picture, Hill will be asked to step up and take a bigger role as a starter opposite Scott, and for the Bengals' sake, the hope is that he's fully adapted and hitting his stride be mid-season. 

Battle is the infant of the group, or should I say embryo. With Scott and Hill in front of him, Battle gets to contribute on specials while they eat up the starters' reps, but he'll likely get some rotational opportunities while he's still learning based on his upside.

It's going to take a lot of work and there will be growing pains for the Bengals safeties this season. The good thing is that the core of the position is young and eager to show its worth, and they'll need to with the quarterback play in the AFC these days.