The Bengals traded away Logan Wilson, betting on the youth they selected with their second and fourth-round picks in the 2025 draft.
After the loss to the Bears, the Bengals are clearly in a rebuilding year for the defense, and with Wilson also requesting a trade, moving on was a no-brainer. While they only got a seventh-rounder in return, the Bengals will also receive some amount of salary cap relief in 2025 and 2026.
As laid out by Andre Perrotta on Twitter (a must follow for those curious about the salary cap), the Bengals will be saving about $2.5 million in cap space for 2025 and 2026 while taking on $3 and $4 million in dead cap, respectively.
The Bengals also owed Wilson about $7 million in cash for 2026 and 2027, which will now be fully available to be sent elsewhere. While the amounts may seem insignificant, they can be used towards a piece of the defense other than linebacker, like upgrading the pass rush or safety room, which have both been large liabilities in 2025. Still, with the amount of cap space the Bengals should have, they could be much smaller problems or even part of the solution in 2026.
No matter who is coaching the team or the defense in 2026, it is clear that the Bengals needed to retool their defense fully, and while the early play by Knight and Carter has been far from stellar, there is some hope that the Bengals are ready to remake this defense, which had been patched together since the Super Bowl loss.