CINCINNATI (WXIX) – DJ Turner — the third-year corner who flipped a switch and went from a backup to a Pro Bowl caliber player — was going around the locker room after the Cincinnati Bengals’ season ended with a 20-18 loss to the lowly Browns. Turner had a message for the young guys on the Bengals’ defense.
“Whatever it is for you to lock in and get your mental straight, do that,” Turner said. “Figure out what that is in the offseason so you can set up the rest of your career.”
All year, the Bengals’ defense desperately needed more guys to make plays. In losses to the Packers, Jets, Bears, Patriots, Bills and Browns, the defense just needed one guy to step up in a big spot and make a splash.
The Bengals consistently didn’t get that all season. The only time that anyone on the defense closed out a game was when Trey Hendrickson took over down the stretch against the Jaguars all the way back in Week 2, and Hendrickson is long gone. The end of games is where star players shine, and the Bengals need more impact playmakers at every level of the defense.
They’ll certainly try to take a step in that direction by adding to the group in free agency — we’ll have plenty of time to talk about that. But it’s not realistic for the Bengals to be able to fill every single need on the defense with a Pro Bowl caliber addition and a premium investment. They need many guys on the roster to get a lot better.
The Bengals badly need more players to follow in the path of Turner, Myles Murphy and Chase Brown and make the jump from role player to cornerstone.
“Figure out what you need to work on and work on that, obviously,” Chase Brown said. “But also try to come back as complete of a player as possible. If you’re a linebacker, go get better in coverage. Don’t just do linebacker drills — go do defensive back drills. If you’re a safety, go do corner drills. Go outside of what you’re comfortable with, get better at that and come back the next year as complete as possible.”
Time flies in the NFL. It feels like guys like Turner, Murphy, Brown, Dax Hill and Jordan Battle were the young guys brought into supplement what was a championship-caliber core. That old core is now gone aside from Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
This offseason is the passing of the torch to the next generation. It’s their team now, particularly on defense.
“I’m looking forward to embracing that role,” Turner said. “I love the role. It’s what I’m here to do. It’s exciting. Culture is how you get there. Coaches can tell you every day what to do, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to do it. Players can try to hold a standard. If everyone doesn’t buy in, it’s not going to mean anything. Culture is the biggest thing. You’ve got to build a culture here to flip it around, and that’s what I’m trying to do right now.”
The maligned Bengals’ defense had its depth badly tested in the final two minutes on Sunday as the Browns turned in a game-winning field goal drive.
Turner was out with a calf injury. Dax Hill exited the game with an injury that took place on a first-down catch that he allowed. On the final snaps of the season, the Bengals had No. 5 cornerback DJ Ivey at outside corner, slot cornerback Jalen Davis as the other outside cornerback and practice squad player Bralyn Lux lined up in the slot. On the defensive line, the Bengals had No. 5 defensive end Cedric Johnson, run stopper Cam Sample and inconsistent rookie Shemar Stewart in three of the four spots.
The other defensive lineman on the field was Murphy. He has had such a great season. But in that moment on Sunday, the Bengals needed him to be a closer.
That’s the next step for Murphy. If he makes that leap, then the Bengals’ defense becomes much more serious.
“That’s the NFL, and that’s sports in general,” Murphy said. “If everyone individually gets better, the whole team tremendously gets better. I want to do more film study. Look at what I did and how I can set up rushes better. I didn’t set up rushes the best this year. I’ll build off that.”
The Bengals need players like Turner, Hill and Murphy to grow into consistent game-wreckers. Then, they need guys like Jordan Battle, Shemar Stewart, Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter to grow into guys who can be consistent on a snap-to-snap basis — the leap that Turner, Hill and Murphy made in 2025.
“How you approach the offseason, that’s where I took the biggest leap starting in January of last year,” Murphy said. “I was on a mission. I’m an open book sharing what I did this past offseason. I encourage everyone who has questions about what to do to come to me and ask. I can give them what I did.”
DJ Reader, Sam Hubbard, Chidobe Awuzie, Mike Hilton and Vonn Bell were among the players who were around in 2023 and 2024 to give guys like Murphy, Hill, Turner and Battle advice about that process.
Now, it’s their show. Hill and the guys from the 2023 draft class are the guys that the rest of the defense is looking toward.
“Every defense needs a group of people to look to,” Murphy said. “If everyone is out there for themselves, the defense can only go so far. It’s important to establish who those guys are.”
Every year, the offseason has a theme. The message entering 2025 was all about fixing the Bengals’ slow start problem.
This Bengals’ offseason will be all about fixing the defense, but the coaching staff isn’t going to say in the team meeting tomorrow that most of the players are about the be replaced.
A fitting message is that this is going to be a huge offseason for everyone in the room. Everyone needs to get better. If they do, then the defense is going to be in a much better position to make the big play with the game on the line in the fall of 2026.
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