John Sheeran discusses why the Cincinnati Bengals haven't yet solved a recurring problem among the defensive line.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The Bengals dished out plenty of cash at defensive tackle to start free agency but it does leave me
00:04with some questions about a couple of guys they drafted last year so in this video I'll explain
00:08what's in store for both of them as they enter their second years. Hi again Bengals fans who's
00:16got two thumbs and foolishly predicted that the first move the Bengals would make in free agency
00:21would be to sign a guard? This guy. But if I were to predict the first external signing that this
00:27team makes when legal tampering opens I'm going to put my money on the guard spot. Oops. Not the
00:34first time I've whiffed. Definitely not going to be the last time but let's focus on what the
00:38Bengals actually did in the first day of free agency. One of the things I did foresee the
00:41Bengals doing was trying to identify value along the defensive line in free agency and I think
00:46that's what they did when they extended both BJ Hill and Joseph Asai and then they went out and
00:51got TJ Slayton because Hill's three-year 33 million dollar deal is relatively cheap compared
00:56to the deal that he signed three years ago when the salary cap was significantly smaller than what
01:00it is now. So technically it is a raise on paper but relative to cap inflation it's not. And Slayton
01:05got his first veteran contract after being drafted in 2021. He got 15 million over the course of two
01:10years which is probably going to end up being a one-year deal with the team option next year in
01:142026. And then you have Joseph Asai who was represented by none other than David Mulligetta
01:18the agent that the Bengals refused to work with for the past four years when he represented both
01:22Jesse Bates and Tee Higgins. So he got a nice seven million dollar provid deal for just this
01:26season and he's going to be inserted back into that rotation along the edge. I think when looking
01:30at all three of these deals separately in a vacuum they make sense. None of them were particularly
01:35overpays. Slayton is the only new guy here but he has history with defensive line coach Jerry
01:40Montgomery who coached him in Green Bay and arguably those were his best years when he was
01:43playing under Montgomery so that makes sense as well. But as far as Hill and Slayton go,
01:47if you're paying them to be starters and they are your two starters on the field at the same time
01:52as your two defensive tackles neither one of them is giving you any sort of juice as a pass rusher.
01:56Like if there is a surprise with how the Bengals spent along the defensive line it's the fact that
02:01they haven't added any new pass rusher to the equation. And I recognize that both Duke Tobin
02:06and Montgomery both made a point of emphasis at the scouting combine last month about improving
02:10the run defense and how improving in that regard can help out the pass rush because it gets you
02:14into more obvious passing situations if you're able to stop the run. But at the end of the day
02:18if you don't have pass rushers on the field it's very hard for you to actually rush the passer.
02:23And this is on track to be an issue regardless if Trey Hendrickson is on the team next year. Yes
02:28Osai and Miles Murphy playing a little bit more on the opposite edge can definitely help there but
02:32at defensive tackle who is winning a one-on-one right now? Obviously there is a need to add a
02:36pass rushing defensive tackle in the draft next month and I think that's going to be a priority
02:41but there's a good chance that whichever defensive tackle they draft next month he can still be the
02:46fifth defensive tackle in this rotation. Which is why my biggest takeaway from these signings
02:50is that one of Chris Jenkins Jr or McKinley Jackson is expected to take a monumental leap
02:55as a pass rusher next year. And to be quite honest that's a bit scary to contemplate because I don't
03:00think you ever want to be in the business of expecting a player to be something that he's
03:04never been before. And I'm not saying that either Jenkins or Jackson are bad players but neither one
03:08of them were dominant pass rushers coming out of college and neither one of them flashed enough
03:12as rookies last year to indicate that that's something that's obtainable in 2025. But just
03:17think about this logically I mean the Bengals put their money where their mouth is by making sure
03:21they have guys that can hold up against the run because they didn't have a nose tackle last year
03:25that was a bet that they made when they let DJ Rear walk out the door for the Detroit Lions
03:29and they paid the price for it. And to be fair to both Jenkins and Jackson neither one of them are
03:33nose tackles right that's not what they're going to do that's not how they're going to win in the
03:37NFL they can't hold up to double teams. But instead of relying on one of them to maybe become the next
03:41B.J. Hill they just brought back B.J. Hill for another two or three years. Hill and Slayton pretty
03:45much are who they are at this point Hill is going to be 30 years old this year he's not quite the
03:50pass rusher that he used to be when he first joined the Bengals a few years ago but he can still get
03:54you some wins here and there. And Slayton is just a nose tackle yes he's younger but he's not going
03:58to be a dominant pass rusher ever. Until the Bengals make a notable investment in a proven
04:02pass rushing defensive tackle whether that is infragency which again is very unlikely at this
04:06juncture or maybe with a first and second round pick it's up to Jenkins and Jackins to be that
04:10guy. And all I'm saying is it's kind of risky right now but this is just the tip of the iceberg
04:15as we have so much more to cover with Bengals for Agency and we will cover all of it right here
04:18on A to Z Sports Cincinnati.