The biggest question on the Cincinnati Bengals’ defense — even more pressing than what’s going to happen at linebacker and if they have enough depth at cornerback — is who’s going to replace Trey Hendrickson as this team’s closer.
The 2025 Bengals’ defense closed out two victories all season, and Hendrickson absolutely took over in the fourth quarter of each of those wins. Hendrickson had more pressures (6) in the fourth quarters of two games against the Browns and Jaguars than any other Bengals’ player had late in a close game where the Bengals had the lead over the course of the entire season. In 2024, Trey Hendrickson had 30 pressures in closing time, and nobody else on the team had more than four.
The 2025 Bengals saw how much a closer really matters on your defensive line when they failed to close out games against the Jets, Bears, Bills and Browns. If the defensive line had made one more play in each of those very winnable games, then the Bengals could have finished last season with 10 wins.
Who’s the Bengals’ closer going to be going forward?
It could be Myles Murphy, who made a huge leap in 2025 and could make another one in 2026.
The Bengals are hoping that Shemar Stewart can help.
Rookie Cashius Howell knows how to finish sacks, and he’ll get plenty of opportunities.
But the spotlight is on Boye Mafe, a 27-year-old reigning Super Bowl champion who joined the Bengals in March on a three-year, $60 million contract.
“As a player, I’m learning a lot about myself and the game,” Mafe said. “Once I’m able to really apply those things, I’ll show what type of player I can be.”
Mafe made a very strong impression before he set foot in the building at Paycor Stadium.
“We had a significant meeting with him via Zoom,” Al Golden said. “I just loved the questions, just how finite his questions were. His level of expertise and where he is in his career and the seriousness of which he took the entire process. There were a lot of factors that went into it for him. I was just really impressed with him.”
Mafe had a fan on the Bengals’ coaching staff even before then. The Seahawks drafted Mafe in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft. The assistant head coach and right-hand man to former Seahawks head coach and defensive guru Pete Carroll at that time was Sean Desai. Now, Desai is a senior defensive assistant on the Bengals’ staff.
Mafe credits Desai as one of the coaches who helped his career take off in Seattle. As a rookie in 2022, Mafe played in nearly 40% of the defense’s snaps, recorded three sacks and set the foundation for a breakout sophomore season. In 2023, Mafe recorded nine sacks and 53 pressures. He delivered 22 of those pressures on third downs, and he showed up in clutch moments late in close games against the Panthers, Cardinals, Eagles and Titans.
“I slowed the game down for myself (in 2024) and had that confidence in who I am as a player because I’d seen it before,” Mafe said. “When you study those things, it makes the game easier. You’re not just trying to figure things out. You’re playing the game. As a rookie, I didn’t know if it was left or right or up or down.”
There are a lot of younger players on the Bengals’ defense who need to make a leap. The growth that Mafe showed between 2023 and 2024 is a perfect example of a path to follow, and Mafe can pass along the lessons that worked for him.
“Half the game is mental,” Mafe said. “When you know what’s going on around you, it makes it easier to play the game. Right now, I’m a sponge who’s still learning the system and picking up what we’re doing here. Any time I can help, if I see something I’ve used and figured out when I was a younger player, I’m always willing to help and teach anyone anything I may know.”
In 2024 and 2025 with Seattle, Mafe had to make some sacrifices. Head coach Mike Macdonald took over and implemented what has become the best defensive system in the entire NFL. The scheme changed some of Mafe’s responsibilities, and he was asked to become more of a jack of all trades rather than a pure one-on-one pass rusher. Macdonald’s scheme featured outside linebacker types like Uchenna Nwosu and DeMarcus Lawrence, which took some snaps and some prime pass rush opportunities away from Mafe.
“The game is bigger than you,” Mafe said. “Those things happen. That’s a part of it. You learn and understand. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. You control what you can control.”
Mafe wasn’t on the field as much, but he was still an important pass rush piece for the best defense in the NFL. The scheme change required that Mafe develop into a more well-rounded player, and he did. Even though he only had two sacks last season, he made his mark. In the Super Bowl, Mafe recorded five pressures against Drake Maye and had his most productive game of the season as the Seahawks won it all.
Mafe, who put together 15 combined sacks between 2023 and 2024, ranked eighth in the NFL in pass rush win rate as an edge rusher in 2025, according to ESPN. He statistically graded out well in quick pressures, which signifies that he can make splash plays at a high rate.
There was a lot on Mafe’s 2025 tape for the Bengals to get excited about.
“He did it all for Seattle,” Golden said. “He can rush on the edge. He has a good counter inside. He’s got speed to win. He’s very good in pursuit. He gave them a presence at outside (linebacker) when they went to a bigger package. And he has the ability to drop, too. He just really is a multi-faceted athlete.”
This could be a classic case of an player whose role and whose competition on the depth chart prevented him from playing every down and tapping into his ceiling.
The Bengals will give Mafe that opportunity.
The Bengals’ big offer to Mafe in free agency showed him how much they valued him. In addition to the size of the contract, the Bengals’ pitch to Mafe was “that they’ve been to the Super Bowl, and they want to go back,” Mafe said. “It’s the same for me. Coming from that, I want to go back. I understand the drive and what it takes.”
If the Bengals make it there, he’d be in a completely different role on this defensive line than he had in Seattle in 2025. Mafe would be featured. He’d have a chance to be the closer.
Right now, he steps into a young Bengals’ defense that has a lot to learn. The Bengals value the playoff experience that Mafe brings to the table, and he’s a Super Bowl winner who has a lot that he can share.
“My mindset is to help push the room no matter what it looks like,” Mafe said. “Pushing the room will push me at the end of the day.”
As soon as Mafe reported to Cincinnati for the start of optional team activities in April, the Bengals started getting a sense of the impact that Mafe can make behind the scenes.
“He’s really a student of the game when you listen to him talk in the meetings,” veteran defensive tackle Jonathan Allen said. “It’s really impressive when you hear him talk in the meeting rooms. It’s really impressive the way that he breaks down film and thinks about things.”
The 24-year-old Murphy can look at Mafe as an example for how a defensive end with a lot of talent can translate that into production.
“He’s a pure athlete, but he’s not raw,” Murphy said. “He’s seasoned. He knows his moves and what works for him. He’s a very intellectual guy. In the film room, it shows. He knows ball.”
Dexter Lawrence has been poring into the tape of his new teammates, and he said that he views Mafe as a “really explosive” rusher who has shown that he can “win really quickly” off the edge in one-on-one matchups.
Lawrence’s presence on the defensive line should impact Mafe more than anyone else. If the Bengals hadn’t made that trade, then opposing offensive lines would have relentlessly chipped and double teamed Mafe during the season. But now with Lawrence, who gets double teamed by offensive linemen at a rare rate, Mafe will get a lot more one-on-one matchups.
It’s another reason why Mafe could be in store for a big season with the Bengals.
“They give us the freedom on the defensive line to be playmakers and have the opportunity to make things happen,” Mafe said. “It’s definitely exciting.”
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