Bengals Free Agent Profile: Tycen Anderson is the safety Cincinnati should want to bring back

Tycen Anderson has value to the Bengals aside from playing safety.

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer

Feb 20, 2026 3:01 PM 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.

There will be a change in who starts at safety for Cincinnati’s defense in 2026. Geno Stone is all but already out the door, and Jordan Battle is penciled in as an incumbent starter next to Stone’s eventual replacement. The depth behind both starters, however, shouldn’t change much despite the top reserve’s contract expiring next month.

Tycen Anderson

Position: Safety
Age for 2027 Season: 27
Incoming NFL Year: 5th
Previous AAV: $991,521
2026 Snap %: 5.9%

Tycen Anderson was drafted by Cincinnati in the fifth-round of the 2022 NFL Draft. The Bengals traded up eight spots to land the former Toledo team captain. He suffered a season-ending injury right before his rookie year began, so his debut didn’t come until 2023. He became an immediate contributor on special teams before suffering another season-ending injury in Week 8 of that year. He finally played a full season in 2024, and only rookie linebacker Maema Njongmeta ended up playing more special teams snaps.

Anderson’s 727 special teams snaps over the last two years is far and away the most on the Bengals’ roster during that timeframe. His prowess in that phase is why he was targeted by Cincy in the first place. As an actual safety, he had never played more than eight defensive snaps before Week 16 of the 2025 season. He finished the year with an average of 15.3 snaps per game in the final three weeks.

Contract History and Projection

Browning signed a two-year, $1.945 million deal in 2024 that did not include any guaranteed money. Cincinnati essentially bought out his remaining years before he would accrue enough experience to become a restricted free agent.

Spotrac.com’s calculated market value for Anderson is a one-year, $1,751,124 million deal. Cincinnati could also wait until the 2026 league year arrives to offer Browning a smaller deal.

Prediction

Special teams players without much of a market to play their listed positions are among the easiest players to retain in free agency, or before the madness even ensues. Anderson has become a pillar of the Bengals’ operations in the forgotten phase of the game, and he should be brought back on an affordable deal.

I think Anderson also has value as a reserve at the safety position, especially when there will be a new starter signed eventually. Anderson and Battle will be the incumbent players to note, and the former will continue providing depth in-between punts and kickoffs.