Cincinnati Bengals
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The Bengals re-signed a defensive player
The NFL’s free agency period is less than a month away.Reports seem to indicate that the Bengals plan to spend in this free agency as they aim to improve their defense, which finished as the third-worst scoring defense in the NFL.
Unfortunately, perhaps the biggest Bengals-related move this offseason won’t be an addition but a departure, on one of the NFL’s most productive pass rushers. Trey Hendrickson, who is listed on Fox Sports as the fourth-best free agent in the NFL, is set to be an unrestricted free agent, and the expectation is he will leave Cincinnati.
Hendrickson is one of 14 Bengals players that are set to be free agents when the new league year begins on March 11. That list used to be 15, but the Cincinnati Bengals announced that they have re-signed one of their defensive players.
Bengals Re-Sign Cornerback
The Cincinnati Bengals announced they had re-signed cornerback Jalen Davis. On the official team website,the Bengals said of the move, “Nickel back Jalen Davis, coming off a season he played nearly the same amount of snaps he had during his five previous seasons combined as a Bengal, announced to the world Tuesday that he’s staying away from free agency and re-upping for this year.”
The veteran cornerback became a top contributor on the Cincinnati defense late in the season as he played the majority of the team’s defensive snaps in six of the final seven games of the season. Playing as the team’s primary nickel back, he wasgraded well by Pro Football Focus, which gave him a 65.5 overall grade.
In the announcement post, the Bengals included some stats regarding his performance. They said, “Davis delivered 270 plays of competence and, according to Pro Football Focus, an impressive 120 coverage snaps in the slot. Targeted 13 times, he gave up no touchdowns, snared his first NFL interception (naturally in Miami), while allowing a passer rating of 55.6, lowest among all slot corners with at least 120 coverage plays in the slot.”
Cincinnati Bengals Defense
Despite being much maligned and struggling for the majority of the season, the Cincinnati defense did have a strong finish. During the last seven weeks of the season, in which Davis played a huge role, the Bengals allowed 18 points per game. Had that been the case the entire season, Cincinnati would have finished as the fourth-best defense in the NFL.
Ultimately, seven games is a small sample size, and even with that improvement the team finished 30th in the NFL in scoring. Re-signing Davis is a solid move that at the very least will provide the Bengals’ secondary with some nice depth. However, the team will have to make more additions in order for Cincinnati’s defense to improve to the level necessary to compete in the postseason.
Another option for adding defensive talent is the NFL Draft. One mock draft by NFL Network analyst Bucky Brooks has the Bengals drafting Ohio State safety Caleb Downs with their first-round pick.Brooks wrote,“The defense has fallen apart since Jessie Bates III’s departure. In 2022, Bates’ final season with the team, Cincinnati ranked 16th in yards allowed, then dropped to 31st, 25th and 31st over the next three seasons. Adding a multi-faceted playmaker to the lineup would go a long way to boosting this unit, and Downs is a high-IQ defender who excels near the box or in the deep half as a playmaking specialist.”