This will be the fourth offseason since Jessie Bates left, and the search for his replacement continues for the Cincinnati Bengals.<\/p>\n
Perhaps one of these players could fit the bill?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at some of the upcoming free agent safeties for the Bengals to target.<\/p>\n
Could it be time for Cincinnati native and UC alum Bryan Cook to return home?<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old has started for the Chiefs for three seasons. While he did not have any interceptions this season, he had two a year ago. He also has 163 tackles over the past two seasons.<\/p>\n
Cook is just entering his prime, but he has already played at a high level in some big games. His combination of youth and experience makes him a perfect candidate for the Bengals.<\/p>\n
Plus, with all of their money woes, the Chiefs are unlikely to be able to pay him to stick around.<\/p>\n
Kamren Curl has been a full-time starter since he entered the league six years ago. At age 26, he has 86 starts and 586 tackles to his name.<\/p>\n
Curl has the versatility to play both strong and free safety, so acquiring him would not limit the team in the draft.<\/p>\n
He started his career in Washington but is coming off an excellent season with the Rams, in which he had 122 tackles and 2 interceptions.<\/p>\n
Kevin Byard has been one of the league\u2019s top safeties for years, and at 32, he doesn\u2019t look to be slowing down. He has 36 career interceptions, including a league-leading seven with the Bears this season.<\/p>\n
Byard would give the Bengals a seasoned leader in the secondary. He would make sure communication was on point and be an excellent resource for Jordan Battle and, dare I say, Caleb Downs?<\/p>\n
Byard\u2019s most recent contract was $15 over two years, and I would imagine he should still be a reasonably affordable option.<\/p>\n
This would be an ironic twist.<\/p>\n
Jaylinn Hawkins started 16 games for the Atlanta Falcons in 2022, then in 2023, he was benched in favor of Jessie Bates.<\/p>\n
Hawkins bounced around a bit after that, but last year he ended up in New England, where he had a career high 4 interceptions and proved himself to be a sure tackler.<\/p>\n
Despite having 47 career starts to his name, Hawkins is only 28 years old.<\/p>\n
He would bring experience and dependability to the Bengals\u2019 secondary, as well as a strong leader who can get them lined up properly.<\/p>\n
Start with a Bearcat, end with a Bearcat.<\/p>\n
Bryant came out of UC in the draft as Sauce Gardner and Cook, though much later in the draft.<\/p>\n
He played in the slot early in his career with the Seahawks, but Mike Macdonald moved him to deep safety this season, and it appears to be a good fit.<\/p>\n
Bryant had 66 tackles and 4 interceptions this past season.<\/p>\n
At 26 and still new to the position, Bryant is a risky acquisition with a lot of upside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This will be the fourth offseason since Jessie Bates left, and the search for his replacement continues for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2424,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-671531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnati-bengals-free-agency","12":"tag-cincinnatibengals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115882473969940569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}