Steelers Rivals Report: Will Bengals Defend Their Crown?
Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Anthony DiCerbo. Follow him on Twitter @snarfvenom
In football, scouting your opponent is an important aspect of the game. To beat your enemy, you need to know them. In an offseason that saw the Steelers making big changes to their team, it is important to know that they weren’t the only team making moves. All the teams in the AFC North made significant efforts to improve this offseason, but with all the news coming out of Pittsburgh you may have missed it. It’s time to check in on the rest of the AFC North and see what they’ve been up to this offseason.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the Bengals and what their offseason included, what to look out for, and what they might look like when it comes time for them to play the Steelers.
2021-2022 Season Results:
10-7 (Lost in SB), 1st in AFC North, 4-2 against the division
Additions: La’el Collins, Ted Karras, Alex Cappa, Hayden Hurst
Departures: Larry Ogunjobi, CJ Uzomah, Trae Waynes, Trey Hopkins,
Resigned: Kevin Huber, Stanley Morgan, Eli Apple, Brandon Allen, Mike Thomas, Josh Tupou, BJ Hill, Joe Bachie, Jessie Bates (Franchise Tag)
Extended: Zach Taylor (HC)
The Bengals came into this offseason with one goal in mind.
Protect Joe Burrow. Last year, Burrow was sacked 51 times, oftentimes having to endure some brutal stretches by his offensive line.
The playoff matchup against the Tennessee Titans sticks out as a prime example of why Cincinnati had to get better on the line in the offseason. Even though they won the game, Joe Burrow was sacked a playoff record 9 times in a single game.
Knowing what they had to fix, the Bengals attacked that weakness early on in the offseason. They went out and signed guard Alex Cappa away from Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. Cappa had been with them for his whole career. After being drafted in the third round by Tampa Bay in 2018. Cappa had been a regular starter in Tampa since the start of the 2019 season and is certainly an upgrade in Cincinnati.
They continued to address their offensive line, signing center Ted Karras and tackle La’el Collins to deals as well. Karras has been primarily a center but has also spent time at guard. He has played all but one season up to this point with New England, winning two Super Bowls. Collins comes to the Bengals from the Cowboys where he served as their starting right tackle. He was released this offseason with three years remaining on a five-year deal he had signed with Dallas.
The other notable free-agent acquisition for the Bengals was the signing of tight-end Hayden Hurst. Hurst is a solid player, but he mostly comes in to fill the shoes of CJ Uzomah who left for the Jets.
Other than Uzomah the Bengals only other significant loss in free agency at the moment is defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, who left to take a deal with the Bears but then saw the deal fall apart when he failed a physical, so he remains unsigned. The defensive lineman had a visit with the Jets, but nothing came from it. There is still a chance he and the Bengals circle back around to each other, but there is plenty of reason to believe that he will be playing elsewhere.
The rest of Cincinnati’s moves were smaller, mostly bringing back internal free agents for depth. Corner Eli Apple was brought back for another year after a shaky Super Bowl performance and after their Super Bowl run they did sign head coach Zac Taylor to a contract extension.
The Bengals did place their franchise tag on safety Jessie Bates, but he has not signed the tag yet.
Draft Class: S Daxton Hill (Pick 31), CB Cam Taylor-Britt (Pick 60), DL Zachary Carter (Pick 95), OT Cordell Volson (Pick 136), S Tycen Anderson (Pick 166), EDGE Jeffery Gunter (Pick 252)
After targeting linemen in free agency the Bengals were afforded some freedom in the draft this year. With their first pick, they drafted versatile safety Daxton Hill out of Michigan. Hill was a player that the Steelers were known to have interest in during the pre-draft process. He’s a solid player and one that might be thrust into early action if Bates continues to hold out for a new contract. You might also enjoy this video of Hill featuring new Steeler George Pickens:
George Pickens shushed the Michigan sideline, tossed their DB, then shushed them again 😳 @ESPNCFB @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/1CLf4rXczT
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 4, 2022
The Bengals continued to look for help in the secondary, grabbing corner Cam Taylor- Britt in the second round. They did add another offensive lineman to the team, adding Cordell Volson in the draft.
It might be a surprise to talk about a seventh-round pick, but Jeffrey Gunter was one that many Steelers fans had their eye on, but he ended up going to the Bengals instead.
Storylines to Watch:
The Jessie Bates Holdout
Since being drafted by the Bengals Jessie Bates has been one of their better players. With his contract now up the team has been working on an extension for their star safety. In the meantime though, he was placed on the franchise tag. Steelers fans know all too well that sometimes players aren’t too excited to play under the tag, and Bates has confirmed that he isn’t either.
So far, Bates hasn’t been at OTAs, but the holdout will likely persist into the later stages of the offseason, even into training camp. The deadline for an extension is July 15th, otherwise, Bates will have to sign the tag, or he will start losing money.
The situation could get messy, but realistically, it probably won’t. Bates has expressed the desire to stay with the Bengals, and the Bengals would be a little crazy to not want him around. The price is the tricky part, but I think both sides will ultimately get something worked out. The better question is when this will happen, and how much of the offseason program will Bates end up missing.
There is still the unlikely scenario where things do get messy. Bates extends his holdout into the regular season, much like Bell did with Pittsburgh, and threatens to miss an entire year. Or the Bengals could like what they have with Daxton Hill, and knowing that they have extensions for players like Tee Higgins, Joe Burrow, and much later Jamarr Chase coming down the pipeline, they could rescind the tag like Carolina once did to Josh Norman.
I don’t expect those things to happen, but it’s technically possible. The reality is that Bates will probably get paid, but for now, the sides remain apart on a new deal.
Avoiding a Super Bowl Letdown
After a surprise playoff run that had the Bengals on the doorstep of a championship, one of the big things to watch coming into this season is simply, can they do it again?
In theory, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to get back there. They got better on the offensive line and kept just about everyone from their team last season. We know that is not how things work though, and the Bengals will be facing a ton of pressure to keep up their success.
Just four teams have made it back to the Super Bowl just the very next year after losing it. So the Bengals will have some hard work to do if they want to be the fifth.
To get back to where they finished last year and beyond the biggest challenge for the Bengals likely comes in the form of handling the expectations and the inevitable distractions that come as byproducts of success.
The season last year has created huge expectations for this team not only in Cincinnati but in all of football. Everyone will be watching to see if they can replicate their success. There are sure to be wild claims and takes if the team starts off slow, or if they have a bad game. Whether or not this team can get past these worries will come a long way in determining just how far they can go.
Conclusion
After a season that saw the Bengals make it all the way to the Super Bowl, the Bengals decided to attack their biggest weakness in free agency. They are looking to take the last step that they couldn’t get last year, but the new noise and expectations will be something that this team has to learn to manage to avoid a serious letdown.
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