Prominent national media outlet hits Bengals with heavy dose of disrespect
The Cincinnati Bengals have been to back-to-back AFC Championship games, they have two of the best young players in the game in Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase, and yet they continue to receive disrespect from various national media outlets. Sure, there are hints of respect here and there from talking heads on daytime sports television […]
The Cincinnati Bengals have been to back-to-back AFC Championship games, they have two of the best young players in the game in Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase, and yet they continue to receive disrespect from various national media outlets.
Sure, there are hints of respect here and there from talking heads on daytime sports television shows, but more often than not, it seems like Cincinnati is being disrespected.
Though I'm not sure that's a bad thing — this Bengals team seemingly thrives on being disrespected.
The latest dose of disrespect for the Bengals comes from Pro Football Focus.
PFF revealed their pre-draft power rankings and they have the Bengals at No. 5.
Here's their entire top five:
- Kansas City Chiefs
- San Francisco 49ers
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Buffalo Bills
- Cincinnati Bengals
From PFF: The Bengals made another splash to protect QB Joe Burrow this year, signing Orlando Brown Jr. to a four-year, $64,092,000 contract. While the league has clearly made a statement that they don’t view Brown as an elite left tackle, Cincinnati gets great value on a very good player — Brown has five straight seasons with a pass-block grade of 73.5 or better and has played over 1,000 snaps in four straight years. However, they also lost two starting safeties in Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell, leaving Nick Scott (54.2 PFF grade in 2022) and Daxton Hill (56.0) penciled in as the top two safeties on the depth chart.
PFF dinged the Bengals for losing Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell (the plan was always for Bates to move…thus the addition of Daxton Hill in the draft last year), but they seem to gloss over the fact that Philadelphia lost numerous key defenders, including Javon Hargrave, TJ Edwards, and CJ Gardner Johnson.
It's also notable that Cincinnati brought in the left tackle that started for the Super Bowl champions a season ago (Orlando Brown Jr). And let's not forget that Buffalo, a team that couldn't get past the Bengals in the playoffs, lost a key player in Tremaine Edmunds.
And should we mention that the San Franciso 49ers' quarterback situation is a bit of a mystery right now? When will Brock Purdy return? Is Trey Lance even a viable NFL starter?
Of all the teams in the top five, the Bengals and the Chiefs are the two with the best quarterback situations. Those are the two teams to beat. It's silly to suggest that three other teams should be ranked above the Bengals.
