{"id":905460,"date":"2026-05-30T17:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T17:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/905460\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T17:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T17:12:16","slug":"bengals-urged-to-sign-10-time-pro-bowler-future-hall-of-famer-to-bolster-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/905460\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals urged to sign 10-time Pro Bowler, future Hall of Famer to bolster defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bengals urged to sign 10-time Pro Bowler, future Hall of Famer to bolster defense <\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> knew they had to get better on defense this offseason.<\/p>\n

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The team was hurt by its defense, and the injury to Joe Burrow<\/a> in 2025, so if those issues are fixed, it seems like this team could be a real contender in 2026. As a result, impressive defenders like Dexter Lawrence<\/a>, Boye Mafe<\/a>, Jonathan Allen<\/a>, and Bryan Cook<\/a> were all added over the offseason.<\/p>\n

However, there’s even more the team could do if they really want to compete in 2026. And, fortunately, there’s a future Hall of Fame defender available on the market.<\/p>\n

Bengals urged to add Bobby Wagner<\/a> to middle of defense<\/p>\n

Bobby Wagner is still a free agent despite having another productive season in 2025 for the Washington Commanders<\/a>. Wagner played in all 17 games and racked up 162 tackles, eight tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and two interceptions.<\/p>\n

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Sure, Wagner is 35 and definitely not the player he once was, but he is clearly still a productive player. Gilberto Manzano of SI<\/a> thinks Wagner’s best landing spot is Cincinnati<\/a>, and offered the following analysis:<\/p>\n

The back end of the defense still needs plenty of help, but all these holes likely won\u2019t be fixed in one year. However, it would go a long way if Cincinnati added Wagner to patrol the middle of the field to make sure everything goes smoothly for this new-look front. Yes, Wagner was an issue in coverage for the Commanders last year, but he\u2019s still a quality sideline-to-sideline playmaker and his high football IQ would benefit any team.<\/p>\n

As Manzano mentioned, even if Wagner isn’t as fast and reliable as he once was, he’s still a future Hall of Famer with an elite football IQ. At the very least, Wagner would be a positive locker room presence and a solid rotational piece.<\/p>\n

Currently, the Bengals<\/a> have Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter<\/a> penciled in to start at the middle linebacker spots. Both players were drafted in 2025 and started as a rookies, while delivering mixed results.<\/p>\n

Knight really struggled in coverage. As a rookie, Knight<\/a> earned a 40.2 overall grade from Pro Football Focus<\/a>, which ranked 83rd out of 88 qualified linebackers. Carter was even worse, earning a 39.5 overall grade, which ranked 85th out of 88.<\/p>\n

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The Bengals haven’t added to the linebacker room this offseason, save for a couple of undrafted free agents. As a result, it would make perfect sense for the team to add a player like Wagner.<\/p>\n

Wagner is going to go down as one of the best linebackers of all time. The linebacker has earned 10 Pro Bowl selections, has been a six-time First-team All-Pro, and has a Super Bowl ring. Wagner led the entire NFL in total tackles in three different seasons of his career.<\/p>\n

More NFL news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bengals urged to sign 10-time Pro Bowler, future Hall of Famer to bolster defense originally appeared on The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":905461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[2778,228,1740,14163,35570,227,256,2296,2908,1489,7,23388,1577,9085,1558,6,410,111],"class_list":["post-905460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-bengals","tag-barrett-carter","tag-bengals","tag-bobby-wagner","tag-boye-mafe","tag-bryan-cook","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cincinnatibengals","tag-defense","tag-dexter-lawrence","tag-football","tag-gilberto-manzano","tag-joe-burrow","tag-jonathan-allen","tag-knight","tag-nfl","tag-pro-football-focus","tag-washington-commanders"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116664647222126432","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905460","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=905460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/905461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=905460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=905460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=905460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}