With the offseason here, it’s time to take a look at some of the Cincinnati Bengals biggest extension candidates.
Dalton Risner
Dalton Risner has stated on multiple occasions his desire to remain a Cincinnati Bengal. He has been a rock-steady lineman in Denver, Minnesota, and Cincinnati. His ability to play at a high level at either right or left guard over the years is admirable. Risner finished the season as PFF’s 29th graded pass blocking offensive guard out of 137 of them with at least 20% of the required snaps.
The Bengals haven’t had a guard finish that high in quite some time. His final pass blocking grade was 71.0 on the season. Risner also finished 38th out of 137 as a run blocker, with a grade of 68.2 on the season. The offensive line as a whole performed much better during the 2025 season.
Why would the Bengals want to mess with that chemistry?
Joseph Ossai
Ossai is scheduled to hit the free agent market once again this year. He does not turn 26 years old until April. When you draft and develop young talent, you need to do everything you can to re-sign it. The biggest question for Ossai is going to be just how high is that price tag this year? The Bengals landed a bargain by getting a starter in Ossai for just one-year $6.5 million dollars last year. I am not expecting that number to be near that low this year. With the likely departure of Trey Hendrickson, Ossai seems like more of a priority to retain.
DJ Turner
Turner was snubbed from making the Pro Bowl this past season. He finished just one behind the leaders in passes defensed in 2025, recording 18 of them on the season. Turner also finished top 5 for his coverage grade in the NFL for cornerbacks with at least 50% of the snaps. Turner came in at number five, finishing the year with a 78.1 PFF coverage grade. Turner will be entering the final year of his contract. It makes a ton of sense to try and work on an extension this off-season. If the Bengals want to show some growth with how they do things, getting Turner locked into a long-term deal would be a good start.
Dax Hill
Hill has settled in nicely at outside cornerback opposite of Turner. He will be entering his fifth-year option season in 2026 for the Cincinnati Bengals. Locking up both outside cornerbacks with long-term contracts would be quite the statement. This would allow the Bengals to shift focus to finding at least one safety and some other pieces on their defense for the next few seasons. Hill finished the season with 88 tackles, 1 interception, and 11 passes defensed.
Myles Murphy
Murphy will be getting his fifth-year option picked up this year. That will put him here for at least the next two seasons. Since he is under contract for two more seasons, he is not nearly as pressing to get signed yet. However, if he continues his upward trajectory, he is only going to get more expensive to re-sign. Trying to lock him into a reasonable four-year contract extension wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. He was highly impressive this year for the Bengals as both a run defender and showed improvement as a pass rusher. He finished the season with a team-leading 5.5 sacks on the year.
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