Bengals' biggest red flag after the 2025 NFL Draft is a problem that's been festering for several years
Attention has been on the edges of the Cincinnati Bengals' defensive line for months. Opinions of every variety have been shared about Trey Hendrickson's contract situation. Sam Hubbard's retirement opened up more questions about the future. Myles Murphy and recently re-signed Joseph Ossai have been brought up as answers. Shemar Stewart joins the party as […]
Attention has been on the edges of the Cincinnati Bengals' defensive line for months.
Opinions of every variety have been shared about Trey Hendrickson's contract situation. Sam Hubbard's retirement opened up more questions about the future. Myles Murphy and recently re-signed Joseph Ossai have been brought up as answers. Shemar Stewart joins the party as the newest variable as the team's first-round pick from the 2025 NFL Draft.
All sorts of moving parts on the outside while even larger questions loom on the inside. The Bengals going through all of free agency and six rounds of the draft without giving those questions clear answers make it the unequivocal biggest problem on the roster.
Bengals fill out 90-man roster without interior pass-rushing promise
The defensive tackle room in Cincinnati is very simple to sort through. B.J, Hill and T.J. Slaton are starters, while Kris Jenkins Jr. and McKinnley Jackson back them up. A handful of undrafted free agents such as former Notre Dame captain Howard Cross III fill out the room.
Finding where the pass-rushing production will come from this group is a tall task at the moment.
Hill is the best bet to bring the juice on passing downs. After all, he was the second-best on the team last year in terms of pressures generated with 32. Hendrickson made him a distant second with 83 of his own, of course, and his pass rush win rate of 8.4% ranked 34th out of 42 qualifying DTs according to Pro Football Focus.
Slaton is a nose tackle brought in from free agency to stop the run. Jenkins and Jackson flashed from time to time as rookies, but winning as pass rushers were not their respective calling cards from college and struggled in that area more than not in their first year.
In short, Hill was below average in getting after the quarterback in 2024, and Cincinnati ensured the now 30-year old remained its best option at the position for 2025.
Is there really a greater weakness on this team right now? Even on the other side of the ball at guard there's been an outside free agent in Lucas Patrick brought in to compete alongside a top-100 draft pick in Dylan Fairchild to accelerate progress.
The Bengals passed on drafting a DT for six rounds this past week after adding just the run-stopping Slaton in free agency. While the draft was unfolding, defensive coordinator Al Golden explained that players like Ossai, Murphy, Stewart, and Cam Sample sliding inside in subpackages as possible sources of interior pass rush.
When the current answer to a problem is to experiment with pieces at another position entirely, you can't quite hide the fact that the problem is unsolved. Truthfully, this has been the case for a few years.
Cincinnati's run to the Super Bowl in 2021 was the last time this area of the roster was without concern. Hill had just joined the team right before the season began and was out to prove his worth in a contract year. Larry Ogunjobi worked in tandem with him next to DJ Reader and the three of them combined for 111 pressures with each of them providing at least 32.
It's been all downhill since that year. Hill and Reader kept at it from 2022-23 but no one came close to replacing Ogunjobi's presence. This was the goal for 2022 third-round pick Zach Carter, and he came well short of checking that box. In 2024, Reader was essentially swapped for Sheldon Rankins in free agency, and Rankins proved to be a dud even before he missed the seven final games with viral meningitis.
Jenkins and Jackson entered the picture as Day 2 picks last year, but again, disrupting pockets was neither player's strength coming out of college and expecting that to drastically change this early in their careers is unfounded. Clearly, the Bengals disagree as they brought in only undrafted players to the position.
It's undeniably a risky decision. Cincinnati's defense needs to take a sizable step in the right direction this year under Golden. That step will have to be taken without practically any external help at a position that's only grown more valuable in recent years. The team that rostered 2010s All-Decade Team's Geno Atkins during his entire career should know about that better than most.
In a year's time, we could very well be discussing all the work the Bengals did in the 2026 offseason to improve their interior pass rush. It'll look like a bright red flag until proven otherwise.
Bengals sign exceptionally athletic undrafted free agent without sacrificing an offseason roster space to fit him
Cincinnati’s latest UDFA signing is quite unique.
