Can signing a player or two make the difference in the current climate?
What the Bengals do next with Trey Hendrickson should be extremely obvious and the rest of the NFL is proving that to be true
The Cincinnati Bengals have the power to make this right.
Cincinnati Bengals Sign Joe Burrow Bodyguard Brandon Scherff in Free Agency Prediction
So far, the Bengals have largely stuck to their own, re-signing tight end Mike Gesicki and defensive tackle B.J. Hill, among others. Defensive tackle TJ Slaton and linebacker Oren Burks headline the current signings.
Samaje Perine Returns to the Bengals
“Two-point conversion against the Dallas Cowboys. Week two of the 2022 season. Blocking Micah Parsons on the edge by himself,” Pitcher says of the Cowboys’ monstrous All-Pro sacker. “Samaje blocks him like a tight end or tackle. He pass sets him and blocks him. Maybe he’s in a position like that twice a year, and he just happened to find himself in that one.”
Bengals Sign DT T.J. Slaton
Slaton Jr. (6-5, 340), a fifth-year player out of the University of Florida, originally was a fifth-round draft pick of Green Bay in 2021. He has spent the past four seasons with the Packers (2021-24).
Bengals Re-sign DE Cam Sample
Sample, a fifth-year player, originally was a fourth-round draft pick of the Bengals in 2021. He has played in 47 regular-season games with three starts for Cincinnati, and recorded 68 tackles, six TFLs, five sacks and one PD. He spent the entire 2024 season on the Reserve/Injured list with an Achilles injury.
NFL free agency winners and losers: Bucs’ smarts to questions for Bengals | NFL | The Guardian
And it’s not like the Bengals only need a bit of cosmetic surgery to wriggle their way into contention. They need a defensive overhaul and upgrades along their offensive line. To make the math work, they need to find cheap bargains who can play well above their contracts. Instead, Cincy committed new, costly deals to replacement level players: defensive linemen BJ Hill (three years, $33m) and tight end Mike Gesicki (three years, $25m).
Yes, Bengals are faceplanting in slow motion during free agency
Of note, the Bengals brought back B.J. Hill and Joseph Ossai, a pair of necessary-feeling moves up front on defense. They even went back to Samaje Perine for pass-blocking, which makes sense for a running back spot deadly thin on the depth chart.
Bengals still plan to make Ja’Marr Chase highest-paid non-QB, set big asking price for Tee Higgins, per report
While the reported belief is that a deal will get done with Chase, there is nothing currently imminent pertains to a new deal for Higgins, per the report. Higgins was reportedly not happy after the Bengals placed the franchise tag on him for a second straight year. At the time, the Bengals said that the tag was applied with the intention that the two sides could still work towards a long-term deal.
2 still-available impactful players Bengals should target in free agency
The Cincinnati Bengals have had a relatively quiet start to free agency, but they still have several key areas that they need to address. Here’s a look at two still-available free agents at major positions of need that the Bengals should target.
Latest Trey Hendrickson trade rumors create issue for Bengals
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini followed that up with a new report on Thursday: “Teams are willing to pay Trey Hendrickson the contract that he desires but have found Cincinnati’s current asking price to be ‘ridiculous,’ as one GM told me.”
