{"id":853034,"date":"2026-04-04T10:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/853034\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T10:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T10:47:08","slug":"bengals-biggest-signing-is-controversial-with-nfl-execs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/853034\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals’ biggest signing is controversial with NFL execs"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 4, 2026, 5:30 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

Not all that long ago, there was praise and questions when the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> went out and signed an upstart pass-rusher by the name of Trey Hendrickson to a big contract in free agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, those same questions are flying around again after the Bengals<\/a> did something similar with Boye Mafe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Viewed as eerily similar to the bet the Bengals made on Hendrickson years ago, Mafe has a chance to be a similar missing piece for a defensive pass-rush that is attempting to find its groove while developing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One NFL exec who spoke with Mike Sando<\/a> of The Athletic wasn\u2019t exactly enthusiastic about the signing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMafe is a lesser player than (Malcolm) Koonce, who the Raiders signed (for $11 million per year, compared to the $20 million that Mafe commanded),\u201d another exec said. \u201cMafe makes me cringe because he is really a DPR (designated pass rusher) who does not play the run at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The money concern part of that commentary is fine, but Mafe was fine as a run defender when needed in Seattle, so it\u2019s a little odd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another exec said this, per Sando:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not gonna be playing with the same caliber of players (as in Seattle), but he\u2019s probably gonna be allowed to just rip upfield with Cincinnati, which could help his individual production. He can win quickly, but in Seattle, it was more about rushing four as one. He does have to become a better finisher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maye will need to win more when given a bigger role, which is what the Bengals signed him for, and they\u2019re hoping that quick pressure is what opens things up for the rest of the defense, starting with the struggling linebackers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The truth with Mafe is probably somewhere in the middle. It\u2019s a big swing, as were Shemar Stewart and Myles Murphy. They need one or two to pan out in a hurry or the defense is going to have a hard time making a big leap from the year prior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 4, 2026, 5:30 a.m. ET Not all that long ago, there was praise and questions when the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95878,7,6,13078,95905,95882,107118,95913,95896,95888,95897,95883,95911,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-853034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sstssportsnflbengals","12":"tag-sstsnbengals","13":"tag-tagamerican-football","14":"tag-tagboye-mafe","15":"tag-tagcincinnati-bengals","16":"tag-tagnational-sports","17":"tag-tagnfl","18":"tag-tagoverall-negative","19":"tag-tagsports-news","20":"tag-tagtrey-hendrickson","21":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116346042483581687","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853034","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=853034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}