1 hour ago, High School Harry said:

Let's not forget we have a pseudo GM who covets and collects

7th round draft picks like gold ducats.

Where else can they lock someone into a 4 year contract for less than a million per?

Gotta roll those savings over

3 hours ago, T-Dub said:

Imagine a possible 3rd round in 2027 being a consideration for anything. If something as inconsequential as that is affecting their thinking they are not serious about building a winning team

Hey now, with a 3rd rounder we can pick up a talented WR like Burton.

52 minutes ago, I_C_Deadpeople said:

Hey now, with a 3rd rounder we can pick up a talented WR like Burton.

Interesting how they are both very valuable or worthless picks they might as well gamble away, depending on the circumstances

On 12/28/2025 at 8:56 PM, T-Dub said:

We're all yelling defense in the draft but.. I would love to see them get ahead of the attrition on the OL with another OT. Let him back up OBjr for a year, or not. They can go defense the rest of the way but should really be looking to go hard in FA there anyhow, they can't keep waiting on these green players to fix everything. Couple vets that already know how to play NFL ball at a solid average-to-better level. Trey was doing that for them, but he's breaking down and enough already with contract disputes. Or just tag him and let him do what he's gonna do about that. Either way good FA defenders aren't cheap but there are always a handful that end up making an impact somewhere. So they pay a little more than they're comfortable with, that's the price of bad drafting. Unfortunately I expect more happytalk about how everyone thought so-and-so was a bust, but look how he got a couple sacks against whoever & has really turned the corner. That sausage mill is already churning it out now.

Got to break this cycle of draft picks being forced into starting spots because someone else's contract ran out. They write the contracts themselves, maybe try to get ahead of it rather than expecting every midround rookie to hit the ground running. That's what FA is for but they'd rather do their traditional offseason circlejerk like they've still got a SB roster.

I'd like to see them come up with a solid young swing tackle to eventually move in when O Brown moves on. Might look for a upgrade target of opportunity as 3rd WR. Would definitely try to extend CBrown and may re-sign Flacco. Other than that, everything else in FA and the draft is dedicated to the defense.

DL - a DT who can generate pressure and another EDGE to pair with Murphy & Stewart. (1 draft pick/1 premium FA). I'd also look at re-upping Ossai at the right price. What are the chances they get a decent comp pick for Trey?

LB - SA veteran start in FA and a solid developmental guy in the draft,

CB/S - One FA and one draft at both. Downs if he still there and a premium vet added to Battle and whoever wins a duel between Anderson & Anthony. SOLID rotation-quality CBs in both the draft & FA.

6 hours ago, T-Dub said:

Imagine a possible 3rd round in 2027 being a consideration for anything. If something as inconsequential as that is affecting their thinking they are not serious about building a winning team

You're right that they aren't serious about building a winning team. If they were, they wouldn't be running it back with the same leadership who has missed the playoffs the last 3 years.

1 hour ago, buyaharleykellen said:

I'd like to see them come up with a solid young swing tackle to eventually move in when O Brown moves on. Might look for a upgrade target of opportunity as 3rd WR. Would definitely try to extend CBrown and may re-sign Flacco. Other than that, everything else in FA and the draft is dedicated to the defense.

DL - a DT who can generate pressure and another EDGE to pair with Murphy & Stewart. (1 draft pick/1 premium FA). I'd also look at re-upping Ossai at the right price. What are the chances they get a decent comp pick for Trey?

LB - SA veteran start in FA and a solid developmental guy in the draft,

CB/S - One FA and one draft at both. Downs if he still there and a premium vet added to Battle and whoever wins a duel between Anderson & Anthony. SOLID rotation-quality CBs in both the draft & FA.

We won't get a comp pick for Trey in 2026, possibly in 2027 depending on whether the Bengals sign more free agents than the lose or not. Since they should be using their large amount of cap space on good players from other teams, their best bet to get something for Trey is to tag and trade him so they can get compensation this year.

Position wise, they can sign some mid interior pass rushers and they would be a large upgrade from what we have now. Teair Tart or Calais Campbell would be much better rushers than Slaton or Jenkins. We should look for the best LB we can find to upgrade from Barrett Carter and should also draft a LB in this year's pretty good class to compete with Knight, and displace Giles-Harris or Heyward from the roster. I'd go to free agency for a slot corner. And for a top tier safety.

Let's say we re-sign Risner, add a veteran backup swing tackle and QB to finish the offense. Then add a vet edge like Bosa or Mack, a vet interior guy with some pass rush like Tart, a top tier LB like Lloyd or Chenal, a top safety like Cook or Bryant, and a mid slot corner. That would let them go BPA in the draft and know in advance we'd have the makings of at least a mid defense after losing Trey, CTB, etc. Of course that assumes Golden is a good NFL defensive coach which hasn't been established yet.

1 hour ago, buyaharleykellen said:

What are the chances they get a decent comp pick for Trey?

If they sign some other "premium FA"? Unlikely, at best it would probably push that comp pick into day 3.

But.. some potential late comp pick a year from now shouldn't be a consideration anyway.. Unless the goal is to field a team for cap minimum.

10 hours ago, sparky151 said:

You're right that they aren't serious about building a winning team. If they were, they wouldn't be running it back with the same leadership who has missed the playoffs the last 3 years.

It appears that they THINK they canbuild a winning team with the same leadership. If it does not work out, well then they had all the necessary information but just made a mistake at the decision point....

5 hours ago, I_C_Deadpeople said:

It appears that they THINK they canbuild a winning team with the same leadership. If it does not work out, well then they had all the necessary information but just made a mistake at the decision point....

Cool how the logical conclusion there is that they either ignored that information or don't know what to do with it. Being misinformed is a much better excuse than "we have all the info we need but we're incompetent."Shows just how far from credible reality these folks are operating. The franchise culture is "just keep smiling."

On 12/24/2025 at 9:50 AM, Arkansas Bengal said:

So...they can re-sign someone?

Nah keep the cap money a floatin

7 hours ago, Griever said:

& now we're down to $55M? Lowest # I've seen so far, but spotrac tends to be pretty accurate.

On 1/25/2026 at 9:10 AM, I_C_Deadpeople said:

It appears that they THINK they canbuild a winning team with the same leadership. If it does not work out, well then they had all the necessary information but just made a mistake at the decision point....

Well, of course THEY think they're doing a great job and are just unlucky. It's a textbook example of Dunning-Kruger.

On 1/25/2026 at 4:10 PM, claptonrocks said:

So...they can re-sign someone?

Nah keep the cap money a floatin

Bengals won't have 110 mil in cap space unless they do a lot of restructuring, which we all know they won't do. And OBj counts more than 9 mil on the cap, he's at 21 mil while Dax and BJ Hill are both around 12 mil. Whoever put that graphic together doesn't know anything.

50 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

& now we're down to $55M? Lowest # I've seen so far, but spotrac tends to be pretty accurate.

They're projecting a 304 mil cap. Overthecap is projecting 295. Bengals had 4 players get the pay bump that Volson got last year for "proven performance", ie playing a lot of snaps on their rookie deals. But Bengals could also create a lot of cap space if they were willing to maneuver.

30 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

the pay bump that Volson got last year for "proven performance"

😆

"well.. you're still on the roster, somehow, so here ya go.. I guess"

& then spent the year on IR. This would be another example of penny wise & pound foolish? Cheap & lazy gets expensive.

10 hours ago, T-Dub said:

& now we're down to $55M? Lowest # I've seen so far, but spotrac tends to be pretty accurate.

And KC—with $55 Bills in the opposite direction—will miraculously be able to sign anyone their hearts desire.

1 hour ago, Griever said:

He’s old, but in the games I saw last year, he was still playing well. Hodges loves the guy.

Would def add a lot to the room and tutoring the young guys, and would actually be a leader on a basically leaderless defense. As others on here have said, he’d be the latest iteration of Dhani Jones or Josh Bynes. But a better player than either.

On 1/26/2026 at 12:44 PM, Griever said:

As I recall the Bengals soured on Tart.

Boom.

PFF list of top 250 pending free agents.

• Edge rusher Trey Hendrickson is the jewel of the class: Hendrickson battled injuries throughout the 2025 season but still ranked sixth among all edge defenders in PFF pass-rush grade (90.0). He has now posted five consecutive seasons with a PFF pass-rush grade above 85.0 and generated 23 total pressures on 177 pass-rush snaps this year.

They have Trey as the top available free agent. Seems like he should be tagged and traded, eh?

Other Bengals are:

Risner at 76

Stone at 116

Fant at 211

Ossai at 213

CTB at 222

1 hour ago, texbengal said:

As I recall the Bengals soured on Tart.

Boom.

Didnt like his tude if i remember right

16 hours ago, texbengal said:

He’s old, but in the games I saw last year, he was still playing well. Hodges loves the guy.

Would def add a lot to the room and tutoring the young guys, and would actually be a leader on a basically leaderless defense. As others on here have said, he’d be the latest iteration of Dhani Jones or Josh Bynes. But a better player than either.

This is exactly the kind of player I want for the young LBs. Really hope they get this done.

Gotta say, Charlie does a good job. He prepares, you can tell.

Here are his comments on Bengals FAs… agree with most.

###

Bengals free agent preview: Evaluating the depth guys and the backups

CHARLIE GOLDSMITH JAN 28

READ IN APP

Noah Fant

Noah Fant’s stock peaked on the road at Pittsburgh in November in a game where he caught five passes and was also wide open for two deep touchdown catches on plays where Joe Flacco just missed him. But Mike Gesicki returned from IR. Even though Gesicki and Fant are extremely different players, Gesicki effectively took Fant’s snaps and relegated Fant to a reserve role.

Over the final seven games of the season, Fant played fewer than 30% of the offensive snaps and caught four passes for 32 yards.

Fant proved to be useful depth when Gesicki was out, but Fant didn’t really click in the ways that he was expected to when the offense was at full strength.

The first line on Fant’s scouting report was his ability to get yards after the catch. Joe Burrow initially described that trait as unique, and the Bengals worked on a bunch of screens for Fant in training camp. But, according to Next Next Gen Stats, Fant only recorded nine “YAC over expected” over the course of the season.

The under center play action flip to Fant worked a few times, but never for big gains. He only YAC’ed his was through contact for a first down four times all season, and he also fumbled three times (all returned for touchdowns) on YAC attempts.

He showed that he could create a solid amount of separation down the field on seam and sail routes, but those were mostly only used when Gesicki was out. Fant caught a really nice touchdown down the seam on a deep ball against the Bears, but the Bengals never went back to that play again in the season. Just three of Fant’s 34 catches were of 10-plus air yards, and the screen game with him never really materialized.

Chase Brown only had seven runs all season out of 12 personnel with Fant on the field, so using Fant as a part of blocking-oriented personnel didn’t turn into a huge weapon.

Fant was the Bengals’ most well-rounded tight end, but there wasn’t an area where he really excelled. Also, the lack of ball security leaves a sour taste toward his 2025 season.

I’m really interested to see how Erick All Jr. looks coming back from injuries. He’s a Wild Card with plenty of upside. Mike Gesicki, Tanner Hudson and Cam Grandy return to the tight end room. The Bengals technically don’t need to add another tight end onto the roster and could open the year with four. If they add a fifth, ideally, it should be a versatile player who can block and run after the catch but really excels in one of those areas. If you can’t find that piece, the Bengals have enough skill guys to take the snaps.

Tycen Anderson

As much as Geno Stone struggled in 2025, the fact that Tycen Anderson didn’t get a shot to play safety until Week 18 showed that the Bengals view Anderson as a special teamer. Also, in training camp, no one really emerged from the No. 3 safety battle between Anderson, Daijahn Anthony and PJ Jules.

In 2024, Anderson received plenty of buzz in a Pro Bowl-caliber season on special teams. He didn’t generate that buzz in 2025, but that was mostly because of how he was used.

Anderson was one of the best gunners in football in 2024, consistently making tackles down the field against punt returners or downing punts. He was in a position to be a real playmaker.

But then this year, on a special teams core that had several linebackers go down with injuries and was also playing a lot of very inexperienced defensive backs, Anderson moved to become the personal punt protector — a role that Jordan Battle filled for most of 2024 but wasn’t able to in 2025 as he became a full-time starter. Anderson provided some important stability for a punt unit with a first-year long snapper, a second-year punter and new faces all over.

Just like a versatile defensive back, Anderson’s special teams versatility helped get a unit on the field that you could be more comfortable with. 2025 was a good year for Bengals special teams. Anderson was a leader of that group, and he has kind of felt like the quarterback of that unit as a player who knows so much about the entire special teams system and can adapt based on what the team needs. He’s also a locker room favorite.

We’ll see this spring how much a core special teamer is worth on the free agent market. I’m sure that the Bengals would love to have Anderson back in the same role that he had last season.

Or, would Anderson want to sign with a new team where he’d get a fresh start to play at safety?

Cam Sample

I couldn’t have more respect for Cam Sample — he has shown up every day for six years, done the dirty work as an edge setter, received effectively no recognition and set an example with his work ethic. He never gets a spotlight, but he’ll play a quarter of the snaps and get you through games with reliable play from a backup.

Cedric Johnson should be ahead of Sample in the pass rush rotation. And obviously, so should Myles Murphy, Shemar Stewart and any defensive end the Bengals sign or draft this spring. But aside from Murphy (and those were just brief flashes), Sample is the only player who has shown a rugged ability on the edge against the run.

Also, people forget that he was a regular part of the rotation in 2021 and 2022.

After missing the entire 2024 season with an injury, Sample did his thing in 2025. He had 17 tackles in 102 snaps against the run. Ten of those tackles were impact stops within three yards of the line of scrimmage. There’s a rep from last year where he stood up Penei Sewell at the point of attack, dipped around him and tackled the Lions’ running back in the backfield. Sample was also one of the best Bengals at chasing down a play from the backside and finishing with a tackle.

He’s not super twitchy, and the decision to drop him back in coverage a few times last year always seemed to backfire. He also has been on the injury report more often than you’d want.

There are also plays where he seals off the edge, forces the running back to cut upfield and then dives backward for a shoestring tackle (this one was against the Dolphins).

He’s a glue guy, the perfect fifth/sixth defensive end. He’ll do the dirty work, soak up snaps against the run and he’s able to kick inside if you need him on pass rush downs. He’s not a dynamic guy, but that versatility is what you need in the defensive line room so you don’t have to count on journeymen like Jay Tufele, Isaiah Foskey or Lawrence Guy.

Marco Wilson

He quietly suffered one of the most personally devastating injuries of the season. After Cam Taylor-Britt’s injury opened up a spot in the lineup, it looked like the initial plan was to use Jalen Davis on early downs and then feature Wilson as a cover corner on third downs. Wilson, who joined the Bengals off waivers late in the 2024 season, was going to get a real shot in 2025 to prove what he could do.

And then on the very first snap of Wilson’s first game in that role (the Patriots game), Wilson suffered a season-ending hamstring injury.

Wilson has fans in Paycor Stadium. In October, he should have been getting snaps over Josh Newton. But because the defensive line was banged up and needed more depth on the active game day roster (the Bengals would carry nine or 10 DL) and since Wilson isn’t a special teamer, he was often inactive.

In October, unprompted, Golden said, “We’ve been we’ve been trying to get Marco in the mix all year. We’ve been trying to get him up. It’s just been hard because of, you know, the injuries at the end, or the lack of depth at certain places.”

Wilson isn’t a versatile corner. But in one-on-one situations in training camp and in a few spot opportunities with the Bengals in 2024, he showed that he can play man defense much better than the average backup corner. There are limitations across the rest of his game, but the NFL needs guys who can cover one-on-one. Wilson has also made 37 starts in the NFL, serving as a full-time starting corner in Arizona between 2021 and 2023. Since those were very bad defenses, he struggled to develop in that environment.

It would have been very interesting to see what Wilson could do down the stretch this season, but the injury took that opportunity away from him.

The 2026 Bengals desperately need a corner like Wilson. DJ Turner and Dax Hill are the starting outside corners. We’ll see what they do in the slot. But the backups are Josh Newton and tight end stopper DJ Ivey, who have both really struggled in one-on-one matchups outside the numbers.

Whether it’s Wilson (still just 26 years old), a draft pick or the next version of Wilson as a low-cost pickup who’s a flier in free agency, the Bengals need a cover man corner on their bench who’d be ready to play in specific third down packages and back up Turner.

A big factor with Wilson on the market this winter will likely be his medicals and how he’s coming back from the injury.

Lucas Patrick

Signing Patrick to be the starting right guard was always a flawed plan for the 2025 season. He had a tough training camp and preseason, and he was also banged up a bit during the summer.

Patrick won the right guard battle in camp, left the game in Week 1 with an injury, was Wally Pipped by Dalton Risner and effectively didn’t play the rest of the season (outside of a few short yardage jumbo personnel packages).

Patrick was likely a better bet to plan well during the first half of the season than Jalen Rivers was, but Zac Taylor decided to roll with the young guys for a while during a season that had a bit of a rebuilding element to it.

Late in the year, Dan Pitcher brought up Patrick as a player who “certainly has had an impact in the room and on the practice field.”

There’s not really a sample size to go off of to evaluate Patrick’s 2025 season. Something I believe pretty strongly, though, is that the Bengals need some veteran center behind Ted Karras on the depth chart. It doesn’t feel like Matt Lee is a guy you can count on to earn a spot on the roster in camp, and the Bengals have too many other needs to use a Day 3 pick on a backup center.

If Patrick is as good of a fit in the room as Pitcher said, then Patrick is worth bringing back as center depth on a veteran minimum deal. Patrick can also compete to be your first guard off the bench, which is an attainable spot for him on the depth chart.

Looking at the offensive line as a whole and the Dalton Risner free agency, use Patrick as an example that you can’t count on and plan for a cheap player in this tier to be your starter for 17 games in 2026. You need to invest more than the Bengals did in 2025, and the ideal plan would be bringing Risner back to start.

Jalen Davis

I wrote about Davis’ incredible story during the regular season. Last week, I coveredthe evolution in the slot and the changes the Bengals could make.

I won’t go in-depth and in the weeds into all of that again here and will keep this one short.

Davis is an old-school, feisty slot corner who belonged as a starter in 2025. He made a significant impact across the entire defense. Davis can play.

But also, rolling with him as your full-time slot corner restricts the versatility of your scheme.

Davis proved that he can make an impact in a bigger role, but the best case scenario for the 2026 Bengals feels like building a more versatile and dynamic secondary. If Davis is willing to return as a fifth-or-sixth corner in the room who could play a role in a few packages and then be ready to step into a starting style role if someone gets injured (like what happened last year), that feels like an exciting plan for the secondary.

DJ Ivey is a “tight end stopper”?