March 9, 2026, is going to go down as a day where the Cincinnati Bengals’ front office made a big swing.
There were two paths the Bengals could have taken at the outset of free agency. They could have signed players to fill needs. Or they could have operated with a best player available mindset.
Signing Bryan Cook and Boye Mafe doesn’t make it to the same level of the Richter Scale as trading for Maxx Crosby, but that doesn’t discount the fact that the Bengals made the aggressive moves that they needed to.
Cook becomes the highest-paid safety in Bengals’ history. Mafe receives the most average annual salary of any free agent in Bengals history. The Bengals made bold decisions this year. They prioritized upside over building a defense that could simply be league average.
Mafe has to grow and develop to reach his ceiling, similar to what the Bengals needed Trey Hendrickson to do in 2021. Cook is one of the best true free safeties in the league, but he’s not quite the do-it-all Swiss-Army knife who changes your scheme in an instant.
Still, Mafe and Cook profile to be the two best closers on the defense in 2026.
Mafe’s beautiful reckless abandon is a really nice change of pace on the Bengals’ defensive line. Cook is Pete Crow-Armstrong or Byron Buxton in center field.
They’re playmakers.
The Bengals paid a premium for that, and they valued adding upside over simply raising the floor of the defense.
That approach represents a big swing from the Bengals’ front office. These signings are real splashes.
With this approach, the Bengals probably won’t have enough room left to fill every single hole on the defense. I expect them to still add a linebacker, but most of the top guys are off the board. There aren’t any standout pass rushing defensive tackles left on the board in free agency, and that’s a weakness of the first round of this draft class. The Bengals also need more depth at quarterback, offensive tackle, defensive end, cornerback and safety. The front office is going to have to nail the second, third and fourth waves to find value for cheap.
Still, I like this approach over trying to fill your defense with 11 BJ Hills, 11 Geno Stones or 11 Vonn Bells.
You can live with a few holes on your roster if you have turnover generators, and if you have closers.
Starting free agency by signing Cook and Mafe feels very satisfying for the Bengals. This defense still isn’t perfect — it was never going to be. But the unit now has an identity to build a system around based on a strong core of defensive backs that includes DJ Turner, Dax Hill, Jordan Battle and Cook. Every team in the league is looking for an ascending pass rusher like Mafe.
There’s no other way to put it: Monday was a very big day for the Bengals. It was what you wanted to see from a front office that failed to upgrade the roster entering the 2025 season. These two signings at the start of free agency represent the Bengals’ front office admitting that it got last offseason wrong.
With more firepower and more guys who will need to be highlighted on scouting reports about the Bengals’ defense, the unit should feel different in 2026.
It hasn’t been this way in a while. The Bengals opened free agency by doing what they needed to do.
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