The elephant in the room in Cincinnati is clearly related to the linebacker position.
While the Bengals improved at safety and potentially helped the pass rush in free agency, they have not added veteran linebackers to support Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter, two rookies who struggled last year.
”It doesn’t mean that we don’t prioritize it,” Taylor said. “It just means, at the moment, the fit has been somewhere else, and so we’ve identified that and added to it.”
Hobson writes that Taylor is still considering adding a veteran linebacker and a veteran corner. The head coach mentioned the deal for Jonathan Allen that emerged after the initial flurry of free agent moves.
In the meantime, Taylor is confident in the linebackers on his roster.
”We are excited about our two young guys that played a lot of snaps for us last year, and the development they’re going to continue to see,” he said about Knight and Carter. “We’re counting in a major way on those guys.”
Taylor alluded to the big jump that Myles Murphy took late last season to give fans hope that similar leaps are possible for his two second-year linebackers.