Sam Hubbard of the Cincinnati Bengals celebrates after recovering a fumble
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Sam Hubbard of the Cincinnati Bengals celebrates after recovering a fumble
The Cincinnati Bengals’ finished last season with the 25th worst total defense ranking in the entire National Football League. They wasted no time making immediate changes, hiring former Notre Dame defensive coordinator, Al Golden, just two weeks after the 2024 season ended.
Now, four months after the hire, Golden has been named in ESPN’s 100 days to the season preview. He gained ‘Names to Know’ honors accompanied by a prediction that read “They will be big deals in the 2025 season. Meet them now and get ahead of the curve*.*”
“Imagine last season’s Bengals with a league-average defense,” ESPN’s Ben Solak wrote. “That’s not just a playoff team. That’s a team that could have beaten the Ravens, Bills, Chiefs or any other AFC contender in any playoff environment.”
It’s hard to argue with Solak on this front. The Bengals posted a top ten offense in 2025. To make the argument stronger, seven out of the ten teams in the top ten of that category made the playoffs, with the Bengals, the Atlanta Falcons, and the San Francisco 49ers being the exceptions.
Why ESPN Thinks Golden Is Up For The Task
Do not read Solak’s article if you are a die-hard Lou Anarumo fan, as the writer puts most of the blame for the defenses lack luster performance on his shoulders.
“The Bengals’ defensive depth chart remains a substantial impediment to their ascension to league average, but outgoing coordinator Lou Anarumo ran a system renowned for its complexity and need for quality communication, something that many young defenders in Cincinnati struggled to grasp,” Solak wrote.
There is merit to this claim as well. Per the 33rd team, an analytics website, the Cincinnati Bengals had the youngest linebacker room of any team in the league at an average of just 23-year-old. They were also younger than average on the defensive line, and relatively young in the defensive backfield.
“Could Golden, who just worked with young players for three years at Notre Dame, offer a quick boost to early draft picks like Dax Hill or Myles Murphy by simplifying their roles? I’m not betting on a big leap in the Bengals’ defense, but it is at least in the cards,” Solak concluded.
Bengals’ Players Supporting Solak’s Claims
With round one of OTA’s wrapped up, quotes are beginning to come out of the Bengals’ camp. In this case, the players themselves are making it seem like Solak hit the nail right on the head.
“The thing I’ll say is there’s no gray area. You know what you’re doing,” Bengals safety Geno Stone said. “He makes it clear for us. I love his approach every day. Fiery guy. He’s all about disruption. Disrupting the quarterback. Getting the ball. Taking the ball away. It reminds me a lot of Mike Macdonald when I was in Baltimore.”
Stone continued his praise of Golden with an unusual sounding compliment, directly citing the lack of communication amongst the defense as a good thing.
“He makes it simple,” said Stone as reported by the team’s senior writer. “The way they’re teaching us to do certain techniques and stuff know… I like it a lot.”