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Cincinnati Bengals 2025 NFL Season Preview

[Editor's note: This article is from Athlon Sports' 2025 NFL Preview Magazine. Order your copy today online or pick one up at retail racks and newsstands nationwide.]

The Bengals are sick of being the non-playoff team other teams don’t want to see near the end of the regular season.

Cincinnati’s knack for slow starts and strong finishes is easier to digest when it results in a trip to postseason, where it’s proved to be as tough of an out as any team in the league since Joe Burrow entered the NFL five years ago. The past two years, though, have left plenty to be desired and bemoaned, as Cincinnati — blessed with one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks and an electric offense — has been sidelined for the playoffs despite playing Super Bowl-caliber offense during stretches of the 2023 and ’24 seasons.

There’s no dodging the expectations in 2025. Cincinnati can’t fumble another season of Burrow’s prime. It’s playoffs (and more) or bust for the Bengals, who are once again poised to boast an elite offense while hanging on for dear life with just enough defense.

More NFL team previews

AFC East: Bills | Dolphins | Jets | Patriots

AFC North:Bengals | Browns | Ravens | Steelers

AFC South:Colts | Jaguars | Texans | Titans

AFC West: Broncos | Chargers | Chiefs | Raiders

NFC East:Commanders | Cowboys | Eagles | Giants

NFC North: Bears | Lions | Packers | Vikings

NFC South: Buccaneers | Falcons | Panthers | Saints

NFC West: 49ers | Cardinals | Rams | Seahawks

Offense

There are legitimate, sound reasons most teams don’t devote significant financial resources to multiple wide receivers, but the Bengals are just fine being the exception. After all, a happy Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase can only help a passing attack that ranked atop the league in most categories in 2024 and is poised to be just as good — if not better — in 2025.

Burrow has most everyone around him back, as Chase and Tee Higgins both signed massive contract extensions to stay in Cincinnati. It was a huge win for the Bengals organization, which has a reputation — unfair or not — for pinching pennies and letting key players walk in free agency. The Bengals may be sacrificing important dollars in other areas, but the trio is universally convinced this was the best path forward. It’s a small sample size, but the numbers show a difference, as Cincinnati went 3-7 in games Higgins missed over the past two seasons. Chase, who led the NFL in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns in 2024, is good enough on his own to be a star no matter where he’s playing or who else is on the field. He just becomes even more of a threat when Higgins, who would be a No. 1 WR on many other NFL teams, is available and providing a big target for Burrow in the red zone and on got-to-have-it third downs.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

No quarterback was better than Burrow during the second half of 2024, and he’s hoping to be even better in his sixth NFL season. From Week 5 to the end of the regular season, Burrow averaged a whopping 303.1 passing yards per game and compiled 36 touchdowns to just eight interceptions while leading the Bengals to an 8-5 record despite some disastrous defensive play.

It will be vital for the trio — make it a quartet when factoring in tight end Mike Gesicki, another big re-signing in the offseason — to stay healthy and go through an entire training camp together. It’s something that hasn’t happened the past few years due to injuries and contract holdouts, and the Bengals have paid for it, going 1-4 to start 2024, 1-3 in 2023 and 0-2 in 2022. The vaunted AFC North is too tough of a division to come back from a slow start.

The Bengals took a gamble when they traded mainstay running back Joe Mixon last year, but it paid off because Cincinnati may have a future star on its hands with Chase Brown. The third-year back is coming off a breakout 2024 in which he claimed the starting job by Week 4 and compiled a combined 1,350 rushing and receiving yards. Brown’s ability to take short dump-offs for first downs only makes Cincinnati’s lethal passing attack more dangerous.

Defense

Cincinnati made a difficult change at the top of its struggling defense, replacing longtime coordinator Lou Anarumo — considered to be one of the NFL’s best — with Al Golden, who returns to the Bengals after guiding Notre Dame’s defense to a national championship game appearance last season. Now, the Bengals need to change their performance in just about every aspect after a season in which they often hung Burrow and Co. out to dry despite having one of the NFL’s best pass-rushers atop their depth chart. Cincinnati simply can’t lose games in which the offense scores 30 or more points, something that occurred a whopping four times in 2024.

After another uncomfortable offseason with unfulfilled hopes of a contract extension, Trey Hendrickson is expected back and hoping to repeat as the NFL’s sack king. The late bloomer has been one of the best free-agent signings in Bengals history and is looking to register a third straight season of 17.5 sacks. He just needs some help, as Cincinnati got only 18.5 sacks from the rest of its roster and largely struggled to contain opposing quarterbacks, who averaged 223.5 passing yards per game and always seemed to have an answer to Cincinnati’s potent offense.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson

Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

The Bengals, who lost defensive end Sam Hubbard to retirement, are banking on internal improvements from Joseph Ossai (five sacks in 2024) and Cam Sample (out all of 2024 with a torn Achilles) and a jump-start from first-round pick Shemar Stewart. The Texas A&M product boasts all of the traits teams want from an elite pass-rusher, but he struggled to accumulate sacks during his college career. The Bengals have confidence that Stewart can make an immediate impact, and they’ll need it. On the interior, Cincinnati added T.J. Slaton Jr., who will replace Sheldon Rankins and look to help the Bengals bounce back from a so-so year against the run.

There’s been minimal change at linebacker and the secondary as well. Germaine Pratt, who requested a trade, and Logan Wilson are back to anchor the linebacking corps and will be joined by second-rounder Demetrius Knight Jr., a star player on South Carolina’s stout defense. Even if Pratt returns, the Bengals will find a spot for Knight to collect snaps.

The return of Dax Hill, who suffered a torn ACL early in the 2024 season, could help improve Cincinnati’s performance in a young, largely homegrown defensive backfield. The 2022 first-round pick has enough versatility to play at outside cornerback or nickel — an area the Bengals will need to address after letting veteran Mike Hilton walk in free agency. Cam Taylor-Britt is a lock at one of the outside spots, and DJ Turner II is a likely regular in the rotation when/if Hill flips to the inside. Cincinnati will need more from free safety Geno Stone, a key acquisition last year who struggled in his first season with the Bengals, and additional growth from strong safety Jordan Battle, a 2023 third-round pick who took over for a struggling Vonn Bell last season.

Specialists

Evan McPherson, the Bengals’ fifth-year kicker, had to watch from the sidelines as the Bengals made a push for the playoffs last season, as he dealt with the first significant injury of his NFL career. The typically automatic kicker will be looking to bounce back after making just 16 of his 22 field-goal attempts in 2024. Punter Ryan Rehkow earned a two-year contract extension after his breakout rookie season. The big-footed Rehkow gives the Bengals a legitimate weapon in the punting game, an area they don’t need too often when the offense is humming.

Final Analysis

Cincinnati has the quarterback, weapons and track record to make a run back to the postseason and beyond. A strong start out of the gate and even a modest improvement on defense will give the Bengals a chance to prove it.