Grading The Bengals' 2025 Offseason Moves So Far...

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran talks about the Cincinnati Bengals' 2025 offseason moves and grades what they've done to improve their roster and staff, heading into a crucial year.

Transcript

00:002025 is officially halfway over and the NFL offseason is quickly coming to a close as well

00:05so in this video I'm gonna grade how the Bengals handled this offseason

00:08what's up Bengals fans John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here and just like that we're

00:16halfway into 2025 the NFL offseason is so freaking long that we're not even done with that yet but

00:21regardless of the three weeks remaining until training camp begins and then the several weeks

00:25of training camp in the preseason leading up to finally the regular season I think now the true

00:30midpoint of the calendar year is a good time to grade how the Bengals offseason has been and I'm

00:35gonna do my best to encapsulate everything that's happened from coaching hirings and firings

00:40player acquisitions stadium lease deals all of it of course it all started back in January when they

00:45let go of defensive coordinator Luna Rumo and a handful of other coaches and they hired Al Golden

00:50as DC Scott Peters as offensive line coach Jerry Montgomery as defensive line coach and run game

00:55coordinator Mike Hodges as linebackers coach Sean Desai as a senior defensive assistant and a

01:00handful of other guys joining the defensive staff back then I wasn't a huge fan of how the Bengals

01:05conducted their defensive coordinator search I did understand the logic and reasoning behind

01:09landing Al Golden and taking him away from Notre Dame basically given the promotion that was three

01:14years in the making since he was a linebackers coach a handful of years before and it's obviously far

01:18too early to grade how he has been as defensive coordinator since the season hasn't even started yet

01:22but it seems like a lot of the players are buying in to his new system to his communication style

01:27and to his ability to basically relate and connect with the younger player base on that side of the

01:31ball the same can be said about Peters in the offensive line but I really am a fan of his background

01:35as a pure teacher of the game in terms of the technical side of pass protection so overall I'm more

01:41of a fan of the coaching decisions that they made rather than skeptical about how they're going to turn

01:45out in terms of the roster and how it's turned over I think the Bengals fell a little bit short here

01:49when looking at the external additions in a vacuum TJ Slayton at nose tackle Oren Burks as a backup

01:54linebacker Samajay Pirine as a backup running back and Lucas Patrick is another piece of the puzzle

01:59to the offensive line I think that they're all positive moves but the Bengals should have done

02:03more here and I think everybody knows that they cleared out plenty of space with the expected cuts

02:07of Alex Kappa and Sheldon Rankins and Sam Hubbard's retirement among other players that they didn't

02:11bring back and then of course finally releasing Jermaine Pratt after several weeks as well but they didn't

02:16maximize that space and that was definitely seen through the extensions of Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins

02:20it was a great decision to give both of those guys new contracts to make sure that Tee Higgins

02:25didn't reach free agency to make sure that Jamar Chase was taken care of well before the offseason

02:29dragged on but the fact that they inflated both of their salary cap hits for this season it was an

02:33unnecessary barrier that the Bengals created for themselves they could have done more to add to this

02:38roster to bolster the depth at certain spots and to maybe add one or two more starters where they need

02:42them but clearly they're confident in the coaching changes that they made to maximize the pieces that

02:47they already have in the building there's also the draft right the Bengals had six picks in this year's

02:51draft they drafted a defensive end in Shamar Stewart two linebackers in Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett

02:56Carter two offensive linemen in Dylan Fairchild and Jalen Rivers and a running back in Taj Brooks I

03:01thought overall the draft class was you know solid not great not terrible but the first three picks were a

03:06little bit risky considering the fact that Shamar Stewart is a largely unproven pass rusher who is now dealing

03:11with other issues aside from what he does on the field Demetrius Knight is a little bit on the older

03:15side as a linebacker but he comes in ready to play immediately and Dylan Fairchild was also considered

03:19a little bit of a reach in the third round but he has a lot of abilities and qualities that make him

03:23a day one starter the most important and valuable picks also carry the most amount of risk here which

03:28is why I thought the draft was more on the average side rather than good or bad as for the stadium deal

03:33let's just check that box off right there we don't have to go any further than that and finally

03:37there are problems that have yet to be solved and despite the fact that we don't have a

03:41resolution for both Trey Hendrickson and Shamar Stewart just yet I think the fact that they're

03:45still up in the air it does make the Bengals look bad there's no reason why Trey Hendrickson should

03:49still be here and not have an extension already signed to his name the Bengals should have ripped

03:53that band-aid off before free agency began and traded him for a fair price or they should have given him

03:59a fair price for an extension long before this whole thing dragged out into the off-season workout

04:03program and potentially into training camp and it's honestly hilarious that that situation has been a thing

04:08since February and it's arguably not even the most contentious situation on the team right now because

04:13nobody expected to hold out with the Bengals first round pick and it just happens to be Shamar Stewart

04:17in this case my thoughts on that matter have been very clear and I know that some people are disagreeing

04:21with the fact that there's nuance in the situation but at the end of the day there is I don't think it's

04:25a good idea for Stewart's camp to encourage him to sit out of practice and potentially ruin his chances of

04:30being a contributor as a rookie and I don't think it's a good idea for the Bengals to not negotiate other

04:34parts of his contract instead of just forcing him to accept this new language when you try to balance

04:38all the things that the team has done or hasn't done this offseason the positives and the negatives

04:43it does kind of feel like they're in this gray area is it great that they have both the receivers

04:47under contract for long term yes is it great that they have a vision on defense with a new defensive

04:52coordinator yes is it bad that they can still enter training camp with not just one but two major

04:57distractions also yes when factoring all of that in I feel like I can't grade this offseason any higher

05:02than about a c-minus for the Bengals and the reason why it's just below that true average grade of a c

05:07is because the issues that they're still dealing with could have been avoided in the first place

05:11giving Hendrickson a fair deal with guarantees and some security for the next handful of years should

05:15not be complicated and it should not give the Bengals any pause structuring the deals that Chase and

05:19Higgins got a little bit differently so you could squeeze in some more space for some other additions

05:23that was very easy to do as well but that's not the route that the Bengals have taken and because of that

05:28they've limited themselves yet again the good news is a c-minus from January to June does not define

05:34how July to December goes the Bengals still have a ton of talent on the roster where it matters they

05:39have continuity in certain parts of the offense and the coaching staff and they're ready to begin

05:43the season a lot quicker than they have in years past and now that it's July and training camp is right

05:47around the corner it's time to put it all to the test

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