Bengals' long-term worries at safety and locker room leadership could be solved with one late-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft
In the last week, we've taken a deep dive into one underrated 2025 NFL Draft prospect at each position of need the Cincinnati Bengals may address in the next two months. Clearly, the Bengals have a lot of work to do in retooling their roster, but an NFL team can only overhaul so many positions in a […]
In the last week, we've taken a deep dive into one underrated 2025 NFL Draft prospect at each position of need the Cincinnati Bengals may address in the next two months.
Clearly, the Bengals have a lot of work to do in retooling their roster, but an NFL team can only overhaul so many positions in a single offseason. Safety might be one of the positions that doesn't get very much attention.
Geno Stone is a potential salary cap casualty, but there's reason to believe he'll be given another chance at starting next to Jordan Battle. Battle figures to be one of the beneficiaries of Al Golden taking over Cincinnati's defense as he never established himself as a full-time starter under previous defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.
If Stone and Battle are the projected Week 1 starters, it wouldn't be the worst idea for the Bengals to invest in long-term depth with Stone and special teams savant Tycen Anderson entering contract years.
You could say Cincinnati will be a Hunter in this regard. . .I'm sorry.
Wisconsin S Hunter Wohler can firm up the Bengals' safety room
When you win an award named after Jim Leonhard as a Wisconsin football player, you did something right. Wohler won the Jim Leonhard Award as a high school senior and committed to playing under Leonhard, Wisconsin's DC at the time, as a four-star recruit in 2020. He saw the field immediately as a freshman in 2021, though mostly on special teams. His first year as a starter in 2022 was disrupted with a leg injury and only played six games.
Wohler shined in his first full year as a starter in 2023. He hauled in two of his three career interceptions as a junior that season and earned Pro Football Focus' second-highest coverage grade (89.9) among starting safeties in the Big Ten. He also recorded a conference-best 37 tackles deemed as stops for the Badgers' defense that year and his 120 total tackles were the most a Wisconsin defensive back had posted in over 30 years. The AP named him First team All-Big Ten.
Wohler's best year came after Wisconsin switched up coaching staffs and had to find a new DC. Leonhard's successor, Mike Tressel, had immense praise of Wohler after their first year together.
"Here's a dude who, A, understands ball and absolutely loves it," Tressel said last July. "B, when your best players are your leaders, that much more impactful, right? C, it's very, very, very important to him, and that rubs off big time too."
Those are appraisals any team like the Bengals love to here about a player.
Minor injuries kept Wohler out for a couple games in his senior season last year, but he still put together a solid 2024 campaign. He led the Badgers in tackles once more (71) and added six passes defensed on his way to honorable mention All-Big Ten. He was also Academic All-Big Ten from 2022-24 and graduated high school with a weighted GPA of 4.29. As of this posting, he comes in at No. 214 on the consensus big board (h/t to @nangleberger on X/Twitter), putting him in the range of a late Day 3 pick.
Numbers to know for Hunter Wohler
Senior Bowl Measurements:
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 217
Arm: 31.125"
Hand: 9.375"
Wohler carries great size at the safety position, so much to the point where you can seamlessly ask him to come downhill and even align in the box. 45% of his career snaps came from the box while 34% were as a free safety and another 15% were from the slot. Not too shabby of a distribution! Wisconsin had immense trust in Wohler handling a various amounts of roles within its defense.
9.2% missed tackle rate on 1,817 career snaps: It may not be ideal for a defense's star safety to lead the unit in tackles, but if that's how it's going to go, he better not be missing many of them. Wohler is one of the more reliable tacklers in this year's safety class, a testament to his tenacity and on-field intelligence.
Hunter Wohler film spark notes
Wohler may find himself as a half-field safety who plays closer to the line of scrimmage than away from it, but he still has a bit of range to his game and ball skills to boot. He had his moments in one-on-one opportunities down at the Senior Bowl as well. A versatile player all things considered.
Cincinnati needs to find new leaders to fill the vacuum left by recent veteran departures of the past two years. Wohler may not assert himself as an immediate starter in the back of a secondary, but he can set the tone in practices and meetings. He also played with Bengals linebacker Maema Njongmeta, so that would be a fun reunion to watch play out on special teams to start.
With the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine days away, we've gone over one sleeper player at each position of need for the Bengals. Read up on Kansas OT Logan Brown, Oregon NT Jamaree Caldwell, Texas Tech TE Jalin Conyers, Boise State DE Ahmed Hassanein, Auburn RB Jarquez Hunter, Cincinnati G Luke Kandra, Kansas State CB Jacob Parrish, and Ohio State LB Cody Simon.
Bengals can land a schematic fit for Al Golden’s defense with one of the youngest defensive backs in the 2025 NFL Draft
Cincinnati’s new defense will need players like him.
