{"id":866157,"date":"2026-04-14T10:57:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/866157\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T10:57:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T10:57:47","slug":"there-could-be-a-big-position-battle-in-this-part-of-cincinnatis-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/866157\/","title":{"rendered":"There Could Be A Big Position Battle In This Part Of Cincinnati&#8217;s Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">The Cincinnati Bengals have gone through a facelift on the defensive side of the ball. Edge Boye Mafe, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, safeties Bryan Cook, and Kyle Dugger have been added, along with cornerback Ja\u2019Sir Taylor, in this season\u2019s free agency so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">In accordance with a base 4-3 defense, Taylor is set to lineup behind nickelback Jalen Davis. Davis is heading into his seventh year with the Bengals, and what should be his first full year as a starter, on Dan Hoard\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bengals.com\/podcasts\/bengalsbooth\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bengals Booth Podcast<\/a>,\u201d Bengals.com writer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bengals.com\/author\/geoff-hobson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Geoff Hobson<\/a> sees a battle growing between Davis and the recently signed Taylor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI Think Jasir Is Coming In Here To Win A Job\u201d<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kp5skvfajtybe822fk.jpg\" alt=\"Oct 19, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA;  Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Ja'Sir Taylor \" title=\"Oct 19, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA;  Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Ja'Sir Taylor \" width=\"4200\" height=\"2362\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"72\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Oct 19, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA;  Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Ja&#8217;Sir Taylor (36) warms up prior to the game against the Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">\u201cI think it&#8217;s a competition. I think they&#8217;re going at it. I think Jasir is coming in here to win a job,\u201d quoted Hobson.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">Taylor is headed into his fifth year as a cornerback in the league, with a majority of his time being spent with the Los Angeles Chargers, before his 2025 campaign was split between the Chargers and the New York Giants.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">Taylor finished last season with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/nfl\/players\/jasir-taylor\/55426\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">41.1 overall PFF grad<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/nfl\/players\/jasir-taylor\/55426\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">e<\/a>, however his lack of snaps disqualified him from being ranked among eligible corners in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">Over his career, Taylor has notched 97 tackles in 65 games played, which includes 12 starts. Taylor brings along 15 passes defended as well.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\">\u201cJalen [Davis] just won a job for the first time, battling the classic underdog story. So he&#8217;s not gonna give that up easy. I mean, he [Jasir] thinks he can be the starter. So, that&#8217;s gonna be quite a battle,&#8221; Hobson said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\">Davis finished last season with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pff.com\/nfl\/players\/jalen-davis\/50431\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">65.5 PFF grade<\/a>; Taylor did not qualify to be ranked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">Over the course of Davis\u2019 career, the Utah State alum has notched 47 tackles in 64 games with three passes defended and a booming three forced fumbles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">The Bengals are in need of a revamped secondary, and the addition of competition for Davis could kickstart that revamping. Combine it with what likely will be another secondary player joining at some point in the NFL Draft, and there could be massive steps made for a defense that gave up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teamrankings.com\/nfl\/stat\/opponent-passing-yards-per-game\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">235.1 passing yards per game<\/a>, the seventh-worst mark in the league. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7u\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/bengals\/onsi\/newsletter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign Up For Our DAILY Newsletter for More Free Coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals Delivered to You Directly<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7x\">For more on the Bengals,\u00a0watch the video below and subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and Amazon.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Bengals have gone through a facelift on the defensive side of the ball. Edge Boye Mafe,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-866157","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\/116402711370923585","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866157","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=866157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}