Bengals’ biggest offseason gamble looks like it’s on track to paying off following Week 1 win
Cincinnati has a new team this season, but the linebacker position is virtually the same with 2025 NFL Draft picks Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. starting once again. They each confirmed to everyone they’re on the right track.
The Cincinnati Bengals showed off all the changes they made during this offseason in their Week 1 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The defensive line proved it means business with newcomers making an instant impact, and safety Bryan Cook made his homecoming count. The offense took the training wheels off of the under-center portion of the playbook, featuring Chase Brown grinding out tough yardage that was much harder to come by in past years.
Cincinnati has a new team this season, but the linebacker position is virtually the same with 2025 NFL Draft picks Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. starting once again. The Bengals explored options beyond Carter and Knight in free agency and the draft, but gambled on the growth of the guys they spent all of last year developing.
Despite the changes around them, Carter and Knight staying linked together put Cincy’s LB group under the microscope more than any other part of the roster heading into Sunday’s game. They each confirmed to everyone they’re on the right track.
Barrett Carter, Demetrius Knight Jr. pass their first test of the season
A game that featured five turnovers saw the Bengals’ LBs involved in multiple of them.
Carter helped force quarterback Baker Mayfield‘s first fumble of the game, which Knight recovered and returned for the club’s first touchdown of 2026. Later in the first half, Carter made an open-field tackle on Mayfield just shy of the goal line, forcing another fumble and another turnover. The second-year linebacker out of Clemson led Cincinnati with eight tackles on the day, and four of them were considered stops for the Bengals defense.
Knight, drafted two rounds ahead of Carter in last year’s NFL Draft, finished just behind his running mate with six tackles of his own. Both were charged with a handful of missed tackles throughout the afternoon, but the positive value they added outside of those miscues outweighs some of the familiar problems from last year.
Coach Zac Taylor noted it wasn’t always about the plays that were made, but the process of getting in position to make them that stood out to him.
“I think just the speed in which they diagnose things and go make a play,” Taylor told reporters Monday. “There’s no hesitation, which over the course of the season they certainly improved on. But they trust the talent around them, so you don’t have to do too much. I thought that they had really good command of the defense. Barrett with the headset and doing a good job getting us in the right calls, so I was impressed.”
Encouraging start to a long road ahead
Taylor and Co. have backed Carter and Knight relentlessly over the last several months. There was faith in both of them taking key steps forward after a year of acclimation.
That faith looks to be in good hands.
It’s only Week 1. There will be plenty of tests coming down the pipe to challenge the young backers in an inspired defense. It can’t be understated how important it was to see early signs of progress.
No matter how optimistic the outlook for the defense was entering Sunday, there was always going to be a proving ground for both Carter and Knight. None of the offseason hype would have been remembered if they fell flat on their face in their first game of the year.
They’re on their feet, ready for the next chance at proving their worth.
