![\"Cincinnati](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/JoeBurrow-2234367176_7d9035-e1764437402142.jpg\")
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Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow is having fun again. <\/p>\n
The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> continue to address their defense during the 2026 offseason.<\/p>\n According to ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter<\/a>, the Bengals signed Ja\u2019Sir Taylor to a one-year contract.<\/p>\n Bengals signed former Chargers free-agent CB Ja\u2019Sir Taylor to a one-year contract.<\/p>\n \u201cBengals signed former Chargers free-agent CB Ja\u2019Sir Taylor to a one-year contract.\u201d Schefter wrote on his official X account<\/a>.<\/p>\n Taylor was an unrestricted free agent before signing with the Cincinnati Bengals. He is a fifth-year player out of the University of Wake Forest.<\/p>\n \u201cTaylor (5-10, 185), a fifth-year player out of Wake Forest University, originally was a sixth-round draft pick of the L.A. Chargers in 2022. He played in 57 games for the Chargers before being traded in November 2025 to the N.Y. Jets<\/a>, where he played in eight contests. In 65 career regular-season games (12 starts), he has recorded 76 tackles, one TFL, 15 PDs, one INT and one FR defensively, along with 21 tackles on special teams.\u201d The Cincinnati Bengals website says<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Cincinnati Bengals\u2019 Defensive Struggles<\/p>\n Cincinnati\u2019s defense has struggled in the past three years. Despite being loaded offensively, the team just can\u2019t seem to shake their defensive woes.<\/p>\n In 2024, the Bengals ranked 25th in total defense. They ranked 21st in passing defense and 19th in rushing defense. Cincinnati allowed 25 points per game in 2024 and gave up 348 yards a game to opposing teams.<\/p>\n The Cincinnati Bengals ranked 26th in passing defense in 2025. Their inconsistent play in the secondary has lost the team a lot of games. They ranked 31st in total defense in 2025 and 32nd in rushing defense which is dead last. Cincinnati allowed 380.9 yards per game and gave up 60 total touchdowns.<\/p>\n Cincy\u2019s Defensive Moves This Offseason<\/p>\n Cincy has already made a move to improve their pass rush. The Cincinnati Bengals signed DT Jonathan Allen to a two-year, $26 million contract worth a maximum of $28 million.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bengals are signing veteran DT Jonathan Allen to a two-year, $26 million deal, per source. Max $28M with incentives,\u201d\u00a0Pelissero wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last season with the Vikings, Allen ended up playing in all 17 games. In his only season with the\u00a0Minnesota Vikings<\/a>, he racked up 68 total tackles to go along with 3.5 sacks and a fumble recovery.<\/p>\n Former Seattle Seahawks<\/a> defensive end Boye Mafe agreed to a three-year, $60 million deal with Cincinnati. The Bengals also added former Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> safety Bryan Cook on a three-year, $40.25 million deal.<\/p>\n With the NFL<\/a> Draft coming soon, many will wonder what the Bengals\u2019 next move will be. Right now, Cincy has the number 10 pick in the draft. They could have their eye on names such as Caleb Downs, Reuben Bain Jr., and Mansoor Delane.<\/p>\n \u201cDowns reads plays so well and has the speed and wrap-up technique to wrangle and take down ball carriers,\u201d\u00a0Mel Kiper Jr. wrote in an ESPN article<\/a>. \u201cAnd don\u2019t sleep on his ball skills: Downs had two interceptions in each of his three college seasons. He\u2019s exactly the type of player the Bengals need on the back end.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere aren\u2019t many more disruptive and impactful defensive players in the country,\u201d\u00a0Todd McShay (The Ringer) wrote on the \u201cMcShay Report\u201d<\/a>. \u201c[Reuben Bain Jr.\u2019s] 8.5 sacks this season ranks tied for 23rd in the FBS, so we\u2019re not talking about marginal sack production. Furthermore, he ranks third (minimum 100 pass-rush snaps) among P4 edge rushers with a 23.7 pass-rush win rate.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDeonTay Smith<\/a> is a journalist who covers the NFL for Heavy.com with a focus on the Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, and the Baltimore Ravens. A graduate from Methodist University, Smith also covers local news for the Panama City News Herald and hosts his own YouTube podcast. More about DeonTay Smith<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Bengals\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow is having fun again. The Cincinnati Bengals continue to address their defense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-849499","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-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116335863992442727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849499","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=849499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}