Bengals Beat: What Did Bengals Accomplish And How Are They Better With 2025 Draft In Rear View Mirror?

CINCINNATI — The Bengals believe they are a significantly better team following the draft than they were on Wednesday.

That point will be hotly debated and won’t be known for two to three years. But one thing is clear: they went into the three-day selection process with several needs to fill. They filled them, so in that respect, they had a successful draft. They wanted to be more versatile on defense. In that respect, they were very successful. But the Bengals need to do more than just fill holes. They need production and playmakers.

Here were the areas that were undeniable priorities and how they addressed them:

Offensive guard depth:

The Bengals signed 31-year-old Lucas Patrick to a one-year, $2.1 million deal in free agency to add to a list a of candidates to fight for right guard, along with presumably Cody Ford. The Bengals still have Cordell Volson, Jaxson Kirkland on the roster. Now add to that two massive men, third rounder Dylan Fairchild to compete for the starting left guard spot and fifth rounder Jalen Rivers, who could also fill in at tackle in a pinch. And all of sudden the Bengals feel very good about the potential in the middle of the line. Of course, they have to prove they can hold their base and not get dominated by NFL defensive tackles but the Bengals put their draft capital in a good place.

Defensive edge:

The Bengals acted as if Trey Hendrickson is going to be coming back for another season at the edge. Will a re-worked deal be in the future for their sack leader? Perhaps. But the Bengals found their piece opposite Hendrickson in Shemar Stewart, that is if he can beat out Joseph Ossai for the job. The Bengals didn’t address it in free agency so in hindsight, the pick of an edge with their first-round selection makes total sense. The production wasn’t there but the traits on film certainly were. This is what the Bengals are banking on. The edges are now Hendrickson, Ossai, Stewart, Myles Murphy, Cam Sample and Cedric Johnson. They’ve got the bodies, now comes the production.

Linebacker:

This group was rebuilt over the weekend by defensive coordinator Al Golden. He had just two pieces that he could count on in Logan Wilson and Oren Burks. The Bengals took Demetrius Knight Jr. in the second round and traditional stack linebacker Barrett Carter in the fourth. Both could see significant playing time. It gives the Bengals and Golden much more versatility if injury happens (and it always does) or if he wants to go with three linebackers in heavy run sets. This draft had the feels of a goodbye to Germaine Pratt, who has requested a trade. Maema Njongmeta and Shaka Heyward figure to be practice squad candidates.

Running back:

The Bengals had Chase Brown as their feature back coming into the weekend. Samaje Perine was signed in free agency to return to a team where he played a key role in 2021 and ’22. Then there’s Zack Moss, who is still attempting to return from a neck injury. Zac Taylor would only say that Moss is “making progress” but the team did re-work his contract and is bringing him back for ’25 for now. The Bengals spent their final 2025 draft pick on Tahj Brooks, a stout 5-foot-10 back out of Texas Tech. He had back-to-back 1,500-yard seasons with the Red Raiders. He can pass protect and catch the ball all over the field, something he wasn’t shy about sharing that in his call with the media on Saturday. The running back room is set for now.

Here were the areas that were not addressed:

Safety:

This is – by far – the biggest concern remaining. The Bengals have Geno Stone and Jordan Battle as the two projected starters. Stone recovered from a rough first six weeks to show his ball-hawking skills and looked more comfortable. Battle still has a lot to prove entering his third NFL season. The Bengals and Al Golden clearly feel different about what they have in the building, as not only did they not use draft capital on the spot, they agreed to terms with only one undrafted free agent safety – Shaquan Loyal out of Rutgers. He comes from the same school that produced Patriots Pro Bowl safety Devin McCourty. And every year there are one or two UDFAs that make the roster. Keep a close eye on him throughout the offseason. The Bengals could’ve definitely used an upgrade here simply to up the competition in the room like the Ravens did in taking Malaki Starks or a Kevin Winston Jr. or Billy Bowman. But the priority was edge and linebacker, giving a clear indication of where Golden’s priorities lie in acquiring more front seven players who can pursue and get the ball carrier to the ground, something the defense was poor in doing consistently in the last two non-playoff seasons.

Defensive tackle:

There were bodies they could’ve taken to add to a room that includes TJ Slaton, BJ Hill, McKinnley Jackson and Kris Jenkins Jr. But when you look at the front seven as a total unit, Golden feels that he now has enough bodies to move pieces around to fill different roles. If the Bengals weren’t going to spend upper draft capital on a defensive tackle like Derrick Harmon, Kenneth Grant or Walter Nolen, they weren’t taking one just to add to the room.

Wide receiver:

The Bengals reportedly signed three UDFA receivers in Jamoi Mayes (UC), Rashod Owens (Oklahoma State) and Jordan Moore (Duke) but didn’t use a draft pick to sign a receiver. No real need either with Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Andrei Iosivas, Charlie Jones, Jermaine Burton and tight end Mike Gesicki on the roster. Burton is the one that has the most to prove this season with a healthy Charlie Jones also in that prove-it category this season.

Tight end:

The Bengals have the bodies. But do they have the health? Erick All Jr. is coming off another ACL tear and repair. The room is stocked, led by Gesicki, Drew Sample, Tanner Hudson, Tanner McLachlan and Cam Grandy. If All is healthy, this is one of the deepest rooms on the roster.

With all this said, there were obvious takeaways:

The Bengals view leadership and character as important intangibles:

“I think the theme is that they love football — all six of these guys — as I’ve gotten to know them,” Taylor said. “That’s what you take away. They just love talking football, they love being around football, they love being around their teammates. They made huge impacts at the programs that they were at. And by huge impact, I mean not only on the field, but the way that people talked about them off the field. You could feel the impacts they made there. That means something to us.”

Then there’s this from Golden:

“I think it’s always important. Obviously, the (fewer) things you’re worried about off the field, the more you’re focused on what needs to get done. In this particular case, Barrett had great recommendations. He was selected captain by his peers, and he clearly, pre-snap, was in charge of that defense. Those things are all important. It allows you the freedom to get some checks executed on the field. We like to do a lot of our stuff on the grass, so to speak, so we need guys that can think on their toes and get us in the right call, and he’s capable of doing that.”

Al Golden is building a versatile and multiple defense:

Golden entered the draft without the ability – or at least confidence – to move pieces around his chessboard. He can now play the game he wants to play more and mix and match what offenses are showing in his first year as an NFL defensive coordinator.

“I feel like we’re two-deep at linebacker now,” Golden said. “If we’re playing 4-2 (alignment), we still need some help in terms of if we’re playing a base 4-3 structure. So, I just feel like we have six, seven linebackers. I think we have more (defensive) ends now. So, I think we’ve fortified a bunch of positions. It just gives me a sense of, ‘OK, now we can plot the course,’ because we were waiting for, ‘Are we going to be a big nickel team against 12-personnel? Are we going to be a base team?’ So, at least we know now we have the components to go ahead and invest in a base package if we wanted to.”

The Bengals are bigger and more physical:

This is something Zac Taylor identified as a priority early in the offseason. Taking a look at the two behemoths he drafted on the offensive line and the pieces he acquired through free agency, Taylor appears to be meeting that objective.

“To me, it’s a blend of stoutness, power, ability to anchor versus power, the ability to re-direct laterally with quickness,” offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. “There’s a lot explosive, twitchy interior rushers in our league, so you have to have that appropriate blend of strength and lateral mobility and we believe Dylan has both those things in spades.

“It’s definitely a worthwhile visit for a coordinator, but we just came away super impressed with Dylan. Again, we enjoyed our time in the classroom with him and we felt he was able to really articulate his role within their offense, what he was asked to do. He was able to point out some of the errors that he made and how he would correct them moving forward and then again, the physical component of his play style really fits us. He’s tough, the intangibles are through the roof. We’re talking about being an undefeated high school wrestler — you really feel that strength. You feel that will to move people. It’s all there with Dylan so we’re super excited to have him.”

Big schools matter:

The Bengals selected three players from the SEC, one from the Big 12 and two from the ACC. Dylan Fairchild played in the CFP with Georgia. Demetrius Knight Jr. (South Carolina) and Shemar Stewart (Texas A&M) played on two of the best defenses in the SEC. Tahj Brooks was a leader on the high-powered Texas Tech offense and Barrett Carter (Clemson) was a captain for Dabo Swinney on defense. The Bengals love when young players show they can lead on talented teams at a high competition. That trend continues in the Zac Taylor era.

Grade: B

You never grade NFL Drafts on what these players did in college. You grade a team on how they used the selection process to fill needs. The Bengals did that in most areas and feel very confident about the restocked defense and interior offensive line. The Bengals have – with the exception of the safety position – lots of pieces to move around on defense and plenty of depth on the interior offensive line, which should offer plenty of competition come training camp. If players don’t pan out, then you adjust the grade accordingly two or three years down the road. But for now, the Bengals feel very good about their roster, and you can’t blame them for the optimism. Now the coaching begins.

“We can go play football now,” Taylor said. “Obviously, our players don’t know any of the scheme yet — we haven’t gotten to that piece yet (laughing) — but we can put a depth chart out there and feel really good about where we’re at. That’s a big piece that helps us sleep well at night now. And it’s with guys that we’re excited about. We already had guys currently on the roster that really got us excited, then we just added these three on defense. We feel really good about it now, let’s go implement the scheme, get guys comfortable and go play ball.”