Former NFL player predicts Bengals will struggle for wildest reason possible

The Cincinnati Bengals lost some big names on the defensive side of the ball this offseason while resetting around a youth movement with new coordinator Al Golden.

Much of it was by design, with the team making a point to move on from Sheldon Rankins and Germaine Pratt.

Those names stuck out to former NFL player Chris Canty on ESPN Radio recently when asked if the Bengals defense can actually improve in 2025 to help Joe Burrow.

“Not to mention, you’ve got the losses of Sam Hubbard, you’ve got the losses of Sheldon Rankins, you’ve got the losses of Gemraine Pratt, who you just cut. So no, they can’t be better defensively in order to get Joe Burrow where he wants to go.”

The Bengals could certainly regress and see a youth movement spin out of control during the first year of a new coordinator in 2025, sure.

But as fans know, those three mentioned losses were by design or 100 percent needed to happen. Rankins couldn’t stay on the field due to an illness, struggled when on it and the Bengals signed T.J. Slaton to rotate with second-year players Kris Jenkins Jr. and McKinnley Jackson.

At linebacker, Pratt had requested a trade and was on his way out the door due to performance and cost, hence drafting an older rookie with Demetrius Knight this year.

And on the end, while the contract situations of Trey Hendrickson and first-rounder Shemar Stewart are big concerns, losing Hubbard to retirement likely saved both parties from making the tough decision to cut him.

Again, the Bengals aren’t guaranteed to improve on defense with younger players across the starting lineup, but doing more of the same with the same old names would’ve been criticized even more.

This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Former NFL player predicts Bengals will struggle for wildest reason possible

Former NFL player predicts Bengals will struggle for wildest reason possible

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