here<\/a>.<\/p>\nNotes: Easy answer here. With Flacco in the mix, he\u2019ll be Burrow\u2019s backup. Unless there\u2019s some sort of catastrophic injury, Josh Johnson is a camp body.<\/p>\n
Chase BrownSamaje PerineTahj Brooks<\/p>\n
Notes: No change here from the first attempt. The Bengals\u2019 offense flows through Burrow, Ja\u2019Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins. The running game is an afterthought more often than not. That doesn\u2019t mean Brown, Perine, and Brooks can\u2019t all contribute, but there\u2019s no need for another mouth to feed in the room.<\/p>\n
Ja\u2019Marr ChaseTee HigginsAndrei IosivasCharlie JonesMitchell TinsleyKendrick Pryor<\/p>\n
Notes: Again, no change here. Chase and Higgins make up the best wide receiver duo in the league. Chase is the best wide receiver in the NFL, and Higgins would be the No. 1 on almost every other team. Naturally, there\u2019s a gap between those two and the rest of the room. Iosivas is probably WR3 right now, but there isn\u2019t a single receiver with a stranglehold on the position.<\/p>\n
Mike GesickiDrew SampleTanner HudsonErick All Jr.<\/p>\n
Notes: Sorry, but no changes again. Gesicki is more of a slot receiver than tight end, and Sample and Hudson can each help move the chains if they\u2019re needed, though an upgrade at the position would be welcome. The real wild card here is All. If he\u2019s healthy and he can stay healthy, I could see him pry some playing time out of the other guys\u2019 hands. Tight end is a tough position to stay healthy, especially if the injury bug has bitten you.<\/p>\n
Bengals fans have seen it before, most recently from Tyler Eifert.<\/p>\n
Orlando Brown Jr.Dylan FairchildTed KarrasDalton RisnerAmarius MimsCody FordJalen RiversMatt LeeAndrew CokerJavon Foster<\/p>\n
Notes: The reality here is that the only reason to change this right now is to just change it. The Bengals may have the best starting five offensive linemen in front of Burrow in his career. The same starting five that finished the year last year should be the starting five that start the year in 2026. However, upgrades are needed for depth. Badly. Ford is probably a swing tackle and backup guard right now. I don\u2019t expect the Bengals to grab an offensive lineman in the first round. Probably not even on Day 2. But Day 3 is fair game.<\/p>\n
Boye MafeBJ HillJonathan AllenShemar StewartMyles MurphyKris Jenkins Jr.T.J. Slaton Jr.Jordan JeffersonCedric JohnsonHoward Cross III<\/p>\n
Notes: Only one change here. I swapped out Jordan Jefferson for McKinnley Jackson. Jackson not only had a hard time seeing the field in 2025, but he was a healthy scratch for several games during the season. Adding Jonathan Allen probably pushes Jackson out.<\/p>\n
I also expect the Bengals to add a defensive lineman early in the draft, possibly in the first round.<\/p>\n
Demetrius Knight Jr.Barrett CarterOren BurksJoe Giles-HarrisShaka Heyward<\/p>\n
Notes: The Bengals need more help here than anywhere on the roster. They let longtime linebackers Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt go and replaced them with 2025 draft picks Knight and Carter. It\u2019s way too early to say either of them is a draft bust, but their first year as starting linebackers in the league wasn\u2019t good. PFF consistently had them near the bottom week in and week out.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not saying there can\u2019t be improvement. It\u2019s possible one or both develop into solid linebackers as early as this season. If one position needed some veteran leadership in free agency, it\u2019s this one, though.<\/p>\n
DJ Turner IIDax HillJalen DavisJosh NewtonDJ IveyJa\u2019Sir Taylor<\/p>\n
Notes: The Bengals signed Taylor to the roster this week, and he\u2019ll be added to the active roster. He\u2019s a former sixth-round pick and finished the 2025 season with the Jets. He\u2019s only started in three games over the last two seasons, and is expected to work on special teams and compete for snaps in the slot. This is another position the Bengals could use a first, second, or third-round pick on. Many mock drafts expect the Bengals to select a corner in the first round\u2014either LSU\u2019s Monsoor Delane or Tennessee\u2019s Jermod McCoy.<\/p>\n
Bryan CookJordan BattleKyle DuggerPJ Jules<\/p>\n
Notes: Dugger was a good signing for the Bengals. He can, at a minimum, be a veteran backup, but he should push Battle for the starting position opposite Cook this summer. That is, of course, if the Bengals don\u2019t use the No. 10 overall selection on Ohio State safety Caleb Downs.<\/p>\n
Duggar has a lot of experience. He started last season in New England and finished in Pittsburgh, and he started almost every game of the season. He wasn\u2019t the best safety in the league, but he certainly wasn\u2019t the worst. If the Bengals don\u2019t land a safety in the draft, I can go into the offseason feeling okay about this group.<\/p>\n
K – Evan McPhersonP – Ryan RehkowLS – William Wagner<\/p>\n
Notes: Again, no changes here.<\/p>\n
What do you think? Sound off in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bengals went back and dipped their toe into the free agency market to sign two defensive backs.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,10212,1561,6977,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-856740","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-depth-chart","12":"tag-cincinnati-bengals-news","13":"tag-cincinnati-bengals-roster","14":"tag-cincinnatibengals","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116357510718674170","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856740","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=856740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}