The biggest storylines for the Bengals entering NFL free agency

The Bengals front office is quickly approaching a critical couple of months.

I would not want to be in charge of the Cincinnati Bengals’ front office starting next week, but I would love to be a fly on the wall listening in to hear their decisions and how they make them.

March 11th begins the free agency period, and it’s going to be madness for a few days while some teams make major splashes in the market, and others sit back and wait for the draft.

Cincinnati, unfortunately, was never known as a team to make a splash. Up until a few years ago, they did the same thing year in and year out, finish the season (without a playoff run), skip free agency, sign some low-end veterans, and draft a handful of decent players, some of whom turned out to be impactful and franchise-changing talents while others were major busts.

Then came 2020…when the Bengals decided to completely flip the script and be aggressive in free agency. They went out and signed former fan-favorite and franchise-saving safety Vonn Bell along with the very outspoken and colorful personality of DJ Reader, who is ironically a free agent again.

Those were two huge acquisitions for the team, and then a year later, the team decided to hit free agency harder and made one of the best decisions in Bengals history, signing Trey Hendrickson, Mike Hilton, and Chidobe Awuzie.

They have continued this pattern ever since. In 2022, they signed La’el Collins, Hayden Hurst, Alex Cappa, and Ted Karras. Then last season, they signed Orlando Brown Jr. to a mammoth deal.

This is arguably the biggest year of free agency for the Bengals, as they’re trying to find the final few pieces of a championship-caliber team. This team has been so close the last few years but just hasn’t been able to capitalize because of either injury or the pieces just didn’t fit properly.

The Bengals have 17 free agents, seven of which are well-known starters. They need to figure out how to avoid repeating the same mistake as last season when they allowed both starting safeties to walk, which resulted in a catastrophic breakdown of the Bengals’ secondary.

Some of the questions they need to answer approaching the madness. Which positions do they want to target? Within those positions, who exactly do they think could succeed in Cincinnati?

Finally, having one of the highest cap spaces in the league but still having to re-sign multiple other franchise players, how much can the Bengals pay for them?

Here are some of the biggest storylines to follow for the Bengals entering free agency.

Upgrading The Offensive Line

Let’s start with the most important offseason question, the offensive line. We have all quickly realized they need to protect Joe, obviously, right?

Well, there are 100+ OL free agents, 37 of which are 30 years or older. With the physicality of the position, you have to look at their age, as well as any injury history. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of names I would even consider signing.

On the other hand, the upcoming draft has a deep pocket for young and physical offensive linemen.

Will Safety Be Addressed?

The next position I’m looking at is the safety position. After being gutted last offseason, they still haven’t found the right replacement players. It was very noticeable, as they allowed the fifth-most explosive (10+ yards) plays.

There are just over 60 safeties to choose from, and opposite from the offensive line, there are plenty of solid safeties on the market with a lot of games left in the tank. Cincinnati tried to fill the safety void last season but failed miserably.

Hopefully, a new year brings a new approach.

Bolstering The Defensive Line

The defensive line also brings a couple of concerns. One of this line’s standout players, DJ Reader, who they signed in 2020, is a free agent. He has proved himself to be a game-wrecker and a huge asset to this team. He was injured towards the end of last season, but that allowed us to realize how much depth they didn’t have on the defensive line.

Reader will be looking for a big payday, which he is very deserving of. I believe it would be a big mistake for the Bengals not to re-sign him, on and off the field. If they don’t re-sign him, look for them to sign a free agent or draft multiple players to fill the gap.

If they do re-sign him, still look for them to draft for depth.

Prioritizing Tight End

Then comes arguably the biggest question mark, tight end. The Bengals haven’t had a consistent tight end since Tyler Eifert back in the late 2010s. Since then, they’ve had CJ Uzomah, Hayden Hurst, and then a three-headed carousel of Drew Sample, Mitchell Wilcox, and Tanner Hudson.

There are a handful of solid tight ends in the upcoming draft, headlined by Brock Bowers out of Georgia. I won’t be upset if they draft a tight end early, but I believe there are necessities that should be addressed first. My only concern with drafting a tight end early is that they don’t utilize that position as much as other teams.

But, that also may be because they have never had an elite player in that position. That said, Burrow needs to be able to sit back in the pocket and be able to find his targets down the field, and in order for that to happen, he needs time.

For that to happen, he needs a line full of elite players.

Other Potential Issues

Then, if you really want to dig into the weeds, you’ll start looking at the running back and wide receiver positions. The Bengals recently put the franchise tag on Tee Higgins. I do not believe they will trade him.

Then, you have Tyler Boyd, who has been with the Bengals since 2016. The only way I see Boyd re-signing with Cincinnati is a small one- or two-year deal to try and chase a ring.

Now, in the recent rumor mill Wednesday evening, multiple reports came out talking about Joe Mixon possibly being released. This would come as a surprise to some and expected by others. Mixon has been with the team since 2017 and has been one of the best backs in Bengals history, ranking third in Bengals’ all-time leading rushers.

The team introduced rookie Chase Brown last season, who showed a lot of explosiveness and promise. He and Mixon together displayed an impressive display of complementary football out of the backfield.

Behind them, the team had Trayveon Williams, who has only seen the field a handful of times in the last couple of seasons, and Chris Evans, who hasn’t seen much playing time at all. Here’s where things get tricky.

The only reason the team would release him is to free up some money. But, if they test the free agency pool of running backs, they will have to spend a big chunk of change. Either way, whether they release Mixon and snag a free agent or if they decide to keep Mixon, I can see them drafting a back. But that will determine which round they target.

Now, after looking at all of the upcoming question marks for this squad, you can see why I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of this front office. They have a big week ahead of them, followed by an important couple of months to study these draft prospects.