Bengals Free Agent Profile: Joseph Ossai will look for more than what he could get from Cincinnati last year

Joseph Ossai has played through two contract years before turning 26 years old.

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer

Feb 13, 2026 10:12 AM EST

We’re getting closer and closer to NFL free agency, and the Cincinnati Bengals have 16 players with expiring contracts. Who will re-sign with the team, and who will leave when the 2026 league year begins? We’ll go through all impending free agents before the madness begins.

The Bengals need more players who can rush the passer in 2026. It’s the quickest way they can get back to the playoffs, but before they look at external solutions to the problem, they must decide on what to do with their internal options such as one of their homegrown products along the defensive line.

Joseph Ossai

Position: Defensive end
Age for 2027 Season: 26
Incoming NFL Year: 6th
Previous AAV: $6,500,000
2026 Snap %: 56.6%

Joseph Ossai was originally drafted by the Bengals back in 2021, the same class featuring Ja’Marr Chase and Evan McPherson. He missed his entire rookie season due to a preseason knee injury, but played three full years to finish out his rookie contract. Cincinnati re-signed him to a one-year, $6.5 million contract in the first days of free agency in 2025.

The retention of Ossai was made with unleashing him as a full-time starter in mind. Expanded playing time was thought to also expand his production under a new defensive coordinator and d-line coach. He only got 26 more pass rushing snaps from 2024 to 2025 as he missed three games due to injury, but he did improve his pass rush win rate from 9.3% to 10.7%, and his pressures generated increased from 31 to 43.

Contract History and Projection

Ossai’s lone veteran contract has been the one-year, $6.5 million deal he signed with the Bengals last year. Included was $3 million guaranteed at signing, along with multiple incentive levels for sacks. He fell short of all his incentives.

Spotrac.com’s calculated market value for Ossai is a four-year, $36,786,584 contract, which would rank 40th among EDGEs in the league. An Average Annual Value (AAV) of $9.2 million would be a decent jump for him, but the four-year commitment would be the biggest difference.

Prediction

Whether or not Cincinnati’s evaluation of Ossai has changed in the last 12 months will be the deciding factor in his future with the club. The Bengals wanted Ossai to prove himself in another contract year, and he was mostly the same caliber of player he was in the previous three years he played.

There’s a market to re-sign him again, but will the AAV see a jump from them? Will it be his first multi-year deal? His best options might be from other clubs looking to see if they can get more out of him.

I think Cincy will want to offer Ossai a chance to come back purely because of its need at DE, but it won’t be an offer that keeps him from testing his market. Ultimately, he should find a better offer thanks to his agent, David Mulugheta, and the Bengals will look to replace him.