INDIANAPOLIS — If there was a moment in 2025 where it felt like Al Golden really got to show what he wanted the Bengals’ defense to be going forward, it was on third downs against the Ravens on Thanksgiving.
The safeties started blitzing more. Simulated pressures threw Lamar Jackson off, and Jackson didn’t look like he knew what he was seeing. There were so many moving pieces before and after the snap that Myles Murphy ended up rushing one-on-one against an overmatched tight end on multiple occasions.
The Bengals’ defense was too young — too much in its infant stages from a player development and a schematic standpoint — to really become a 300, 400 or 500 level system. But the signs were there about what Golden has in mind. If he gets what he’s looking for this offseason, the 2026 Bengals’ defense would give Golden a chance to act as a more expressive play caller and game planner.
“We’re looking for versatility,” Golden said. “I love versatility in our program. If you can do it without substituting (players), it makes you dangerous.”
For several reasons, the 2025 Bengals didn’t get all of the pieces that they needed, and a new defensive coaching staff couldn’t completely know what every piece was that the unit was going to need. The worst example was how often Demetrius Knight Jr. ended up having to play out of position. He shouldn’t be lining up at the line of scrimmage and having to set the edge in five-man fronts out of 4-2-5 looks, but he ended up doing that over 10 times per game (174 snaps on the season) in 2025.
From Zac Taylor, Duke Tobin and Al Golden, the word “force multipliers” kept coming up at the NFL combine. There’s a leadership element to that. And there’s a versatility element to that.
“I’m a defensive coordinator,” Golden said. “I like toys. Force multipliers is what you need.”
That, Golden said, looks like a defensive end who can shift and play outside linebacker, a linebacker who can play on and off the line of scrimmage and the star/nickel/slot/safety playmaker that’s the trend around the league.
Golden says he’d love to have one of those types of players — a Kyle Hamilton or Nick Emmanwori. There isn’t one on the roster right now, but maybe that looks like Caleb Downs in the draft or Jaquan Brisker in free agency.
With more versatile chess pieces and more experience across the board, Golden can start to dial some more things up in 2026 and show who he really wants to be as a play caller and game planner.
“(Last year) was the least amount of pressure I’ve had in forever and by a long margin the least amount of line stunts,” Golden said. “We made a lot of progress with that. A lot of it was Barrett and D Knight settling in and being able to call some of those on the field. It’s hard to call line stunts as a pre-snap call. You’re envisioning one thing, but if the Y (tight end) is off and the tailback is over there, that’s not a great call.”
Golden said that last year, “We asked them to do more than we should have early on.”
Things really settled in after the bye, and the statistics back that up.
“I felt really confident down the stretch,” Golden said. “The body of work down the stretch was exciting to call. I felt like the momentum was growing, the confidence was growing. When it ended I just wanted it to keep going at that point. We have to look at all those things and improve right from the get go. We have to start fast this year.”
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The Bengals’ offense has quietly been trending in a specific direction for a few years. In 2023, the San Francisco game (maybe the best game that Joe Burrow has ever played) was supposed to be the debut of the expanded and refurbished under center element in the Bengals’ offense. The Bengals never really got to build on that in 2023 because Burrow suffered a season-ending injury two weeks later.
In 2024, under center packages were a week to week thing. In specific situations and against specific opponents, the Bengals really leaned into it. A well-played road win at Cleveland comes to mind. The better that Erick All Jr. played in 2024 before a season-ending injury, the more the Bengals leaned into it. All’s season-ending injury in November stopped that momentum.
In 2025, Burrow worked under center a decent amount in Week 1. He injured his toe in Week 2. When he returned, he wasn’t running as well as he could have. As a result, it wasn’t really the time to have him running around on under center play action passes.
The Bengals did see the under center offense expand with Joe Flacco, who literally ran under center plays that the Bengals had never done before.
The under center world has been a quiet part of the offense for years. Zac Taylor and Dan Pitcher have been asked a lot about it since 2023. But an answer has never been as definitive as Pitcher’s answer on Wednesday. Wednesday.
Two areas of focus this offseason are turning the ball over less and being more explosive on first and second downs.
It’s easier to be explosive on early downs when you line up under center.
“That’s something that we have to think about,” Dan Pitcher said. “The one principle I will always adhere to as long as I have influence over the offense is that we are going to do what we believe our players do well. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to push our players. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to expand to areas we think can help us schematically. We are not going to wholesale become something we haven’t been in the past but do we have to maybe push the envelope in some areas that previously might have made us a little uncomfortable.”
Areas like having Joe Burrow turn his back to the defense on a play action pass instead of lining up in shotgun as much as any quarterback in the NFL.
“Joe wants to win,” Pitcher said. “Joe is going to tell you can do anything. He’s not going to tell you he can’t do anything. He’s the ultimate competitor. He’s also a guy that himself watches a lot of football and is well researched and cognizant of all the factors that go into play when you are trying to choose how you are going to play offense.”
The Bengals’ offense will still be built around ways for Burrow to give Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins the opportunities to make plays and win down the field. But to give Chase Brown the chance to pop off some more long runs (he only had 24 runs of 10+ yards last year, and 38 NFL running backs got a full head of steam — running 15+ mph with the ball — more than Brown did last season), and to manufacture some easier ways for secondary pass catchers to generate big plays, the Bengals can lean further into the under center offense.
In the past, the Bengals have prioritized efficiency (downhill runs, passes that move the chains) over explosiveness on early downs.
Last season, the Rams, Bears, Lions, Ravens, Patriots and Seahawks were among the top-eight teams in EPA/play under center on first downs. Those are offenses that fall more under the McVay, Shanahan or Kubiak tree. The Bengals’ offense, which ranked 22nd in the NFL in those situations last year, can lean further into that world in 2026.
“You guys watch a lot of football,” Pitcher said. “You can see there’s a lot of different ways to play offense. No matter how you choose to play it’s going to lend itself to some really good things happening and also going to cost you something. That’s our job as coaches to do that math.”
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One of the defining questions of the offseason is how the Bengals evaluate the upside of Myles Murphy.
The second half of the 2025 season that he delivered was very strong and generates a lot of optimism about what’s to come for him.
But is Murphy a No. 1? Can he replace Hendrickson? Can you build a pass rush around him?
“Can he be a one? Put him here right now and he’s going to say ‘yes’ and I’m going to say ‘yes’ and Jerry (Montgomery) is going to say ‘yes,’” Golden said. “Let’s see how good we can get. Sometimes we come up a little bit short of what the expectation is on the outside, but during that journey and on that progression we got really, really good at a lot of positions. I think Murph is in that right now and I know he’s going to have a great offseason.”
If Murphy can be a No. 1, then the Bengals can really divide their cap space across every level of the defense in free agency and get difference makers at linebacker and safety as well as a role player on the edge. The other scenario is that the Bengals enter a bidding war for one of the potential No. 1 defensive ends on the free agent market, including Odafeh Oweh or Boye Mafe.
If Murphy can be a No. 1, then the Bengals will have an easier time drafting someone like Caleb Downs over someone like Rueben Bain. The other scenario is that the Bengals enter 2026 counting on a rookie to save their pass rush.
As Duke Tobin says, pass rush is king.
“You pay what you pay for premium pass rushers,” Golden said. “And so you can close those games, you know? … I’d like it to be somewhere in between premium and working together as a collective unit. That’s really going to help us get the number we need on our sack totals.”
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The most interesting quote of the day from Al Golden.“We’re not batting enough (passes). At the end of the day, if you bat more balls, good things happen. Interceptions happen. You win more third downs. Just little things like that could be impactful.”***What the Bengals have invested in wide receiver impacts every aspect of the roster, including what they look for in a backup quarterback.
“The ability to go in on a moment’s notice and run the offense and for us specifically be able to distribute the football to our receivers is what matters,” Pitcher said. “That’s why Joe Flacco was so effective. We do have so much invested in those (receivers). The talent to throw the ball to those guys does matter.”
Flacco has a chance to be one of the most in-demand quarterbacks this year (it’s a weak free agent class). If Flacco lands elsewhere, look for the Bengals to target a veteran who’s capable of completing a lot of passes at a high rate.
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