Once again, the Cincinnati Bengals seem to find themselves in the midst of an incredibly pivotal offseason. After three straight seasons without playoffs, culminating in an ugly 6-11 performance in 2025, the Bengals are at risk of wasting yet another season of prime Joe Burrow and company. There are obvious issues with the Bengals’ roster as it is currently assembled, with a few not-as-pressing holes. The defense needs an overhaul, full stop. On offense, the Bengals need a right guard, someone to help the unit get more explosive, and perhaps a tackle for the future.
As expected, Burrow put pressure on the front office to actually do its job. Everyone overreacted to his “having fun” comments. While the immediate parallel was to Andrew Luck, Burrow’s issues haven’t been with getting the hell beaten out of him because it’s part of the game. However, you have to imagine that the offense scoring at least 30 in 16 games over the last two seasons – the Bengals are just 9-7 in those games thanks to the historically porous defense – would be exhausting.
So, with free agency right around the corner, everyone is expecting the Bengals to actually do something. Will they?
Experts Expect the Bengals to ‘Really Spend’ – History Disagrees
On a segment on NFL Gameday, NFL Insider Ian Rapaport weighed in on the Begnals’ situation. He noted that teams will call to figure out the price for acquiring Burrow, to which the Bengals will (rightly) hang up the phone. However, he noted that the Bengals will take Burrow’s comments and “really spend” this offseason.
The Insiders on @NFLGameDay with @JudyBattista, @TomPelissero & @MikeGarafolo: Changes to replay assist are coming; #Dolphins likely to move on from Tua Tagovailoa, plus latest on Tyreek Hill; #Bengals plan to spend to support Burrow; No trade talks yet for #Eagles WR AJ Brown. pic.twitter.com/Nx39oIQWQx
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 8, 2026
As of now, the Bengals sit with the seventh-most cap space in the NFL with nearly $53.5 million to work with. With some creative approaches to Burrow’s and Ja’Marr Chase‘s lucrative contracts, Cincinnati could free up even more space if it really wanted to. However, the Bengals have never restructured a contract, so the next one would be the first.
Recent History
Following Burrow’s rookie season in 2020, the Bengals went out and spent for the first time in what felt like forever. They went out to sign the likes of Riley Reiff, Trey Hendrickson, Chidobe Awuzie, Mike Hilton, Larry Ogunjobi, Eli Apple, and Joe Bachie, who all played a not insignificant role in reaching the Super Bowl. At the same time, the draft class, while not great altogether, yielded Chase and Evan McPherson.
The following offseason, not content with just making a Super Bowl, the Bengals went out and signed La’el Collins, Hayden Hurst, Alex Cappa, and Ted Karras. While the Collins signing was a bust, the other three were pivotal, especially when you remember Karras is still the team’s starting center. That draft wasn’t great, however. Of the group of six players selected, only Daxton Hill remains, barring the free agent decisions of Cordell Volson, Cam Taylor-Britt, and Tycen Anderson.
The 2023 free agency haul included Orlando Brown Jr., Nick Scott (who was beyond awful), and Irv Smith. The only reason the Bengals signed Brown was that he reached out to them himself and expressed interest in blocking for Burrow. That draft class wasn’t too bad with DJ Turner leading the way, but it took until last year for Max Murphy to be viable.
Then, the 2024 haul featured Sheldon Rankins, Mike Gesicki, Zack Moss, and Geno Stone. Gesicki has worked out, but the rest? Yikes.
Who was the headlining signing from last year? T.J. Slaton? Joe Giles-Harris? The Bengals focused so much on the Chase and Higgins extensions that its already short-handed front office couldn’t get anything else done. That’s not how successful franchises operate.
The NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” league, and last year’s lack of activity has fans wanting more. Even more so, considering how bad the Bengals’ defense was in 2024 and the fact that it got worse in 2025.
Who to Target?
Is it pessimism or realism to think that the Bengals are not going to sign a big-name free agent and will just try to load up on mid-to-low tier players and hope to get better in the aggregate? Well, get ready for the latter.
Bleacher Report released a top 100 list of free agents. How many did they project to Cincinnati? One: #88 D.J. Reader. 100 free agents, only one projected to the Bengals.
ESPN highlighted the top 50 free agents and took a look at the “best fits” for each. While these are not projections, they examine which signing would work the best. How many of the top 50 did ESPN point toward the Bengals? Two: #25 Bryan Cook and #45 Leo Chenal. They also mentioned Boye Mafe as a good fit and suggested a trade. In that trade, the Bengals would send a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Dallas Cowboys for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and a 2027 seventh-round pick.
Verdict
All of these things together contradict. Rapaport is expecting the Bengals to “really spend,” but neither Bleacher Report nor ESPN expects it. We took a look at the Bengals cap space and attempted a mock offseason. As a result, the Bengals were able to use $35 million to restructure Burrow while adding Arnold Ebiketie, K’Lavon Chaisson, D.J. Reader, Lavonte David, Jaquan Brisker, Jimmy Garoppolo, Dalton Risner, and Dillon Radunz, while extending DJ Turner and Dax Hill.
Honestly, only time will tell if the Bengals are serious about getting back into contention. With its tiny front office, where the de facto GM doesn’t even negotiate contracts, it’s unlikely. The Bengals need to modernize and begin to act like a real NFL team, not a rich family whose claim to fame was being born to the founder of the franchise, and who runs the franchise like a pet project with the intention of just making money, not winning.
We would love to be proven wrong.