I was watching the Steelers game on Monday night and I saw impact plays from several young players that I remember wanting us to draft (Keeanu Benton, Joey Porter Jr, Nick Herbig). And it made me think of our defense. When was the last time we hit on a defensive player in the draft?

It's been a while. So long, in fact, that the majority of our defense is hovering around 30 years old.

Trey Hendrickson - turning 30 in December
Sam Hubbard - turning 30 next June
Sheldon Rankins - Turned 30 last April
BJ Hill - turning 30 next April
Mike Hilton - turned 30 last March
Vonn Bell - turning 30 in December

Even Germaine Pratt and Logan Wilson are turning 29 next summer.

The only young players on our defense are our starting CBs CTB (25) and DJ Turner (23) and then Geno Stone (25).

The young guns that were supposed to come in and inject youth into this defense (Myles Murphy, Joseph Ossai, Jordan Battle, Dax Hill, Cam Sample, Zach Carter) have either not impressed, been injured or been cut entirely (Carter...).

In retrospect, it's not surprising that our defense is so bad this year. The core players get older every year, but we never replace or supplement them due to our drafting failures.

Why the hell would i sign with a team who may keep Zac another 10 years no matter how bad he is, just to get triple teamed every play because we let Tee walk.





THIS is why you get guys as good as Chase extended ASAP.

It is a real possibility Chase doesn’t even wanna come back now






I don’t think Iv ever seen a NFL close its own championship window so badly

It’s like they got that taste of winning in 2021 and said “welp that’s enough of that”



If we really thought the fix to losing guys with Reader, Tee and Bates is drafting guys with mid level picks then idk what to say cause that means we’re idiots

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/Bc3x9T54taBvci4m/

My State of the Cincinnati Bengals

Did you watch Joe Burrow’s postgame news conference Sunday? Did you read his face and listen to his word choice? I did. What I saw and heard was frustration and disappointment. But most alarming, I heard resignation.

This organization was gifted Burrow. They did nothing to earn/or qualify to draft him …..other than lose.

With a gift like Joe comes a responsibility to support him, not use him.

This organization is failing him.

Consider what he’s been surrounded by since Day 1.

A head coach that will never again be hired as an NFL head coach. Anywhere. Anytime.

A GM that will never again be hired as an NFL GM. Anywhere. Anytime.

An owner that no fan base/city would ever want. Anywhere. Anytime.

In Sunday’s postgame, Joe mentioned the need for everyone to take responsibility for what’s going on.

Zac owns things. The problem is he keeps having to own things because he continues screwing things up. This team once desperately needed Zac’s culture creating ways. These days they desperately need a head coach.

And while Rome burns, the owner and GM are nowhere to be found. They never talk publicly during the season. Why? Well, it’s just not how they do things.

The GM and his band of six scouts continue to offer the coach more draft misses than hits. They’ve run out of the Top 5 draft currency for the easy picks like Burrow and JaMarr Chase.

Good players eventually get big contracts. That requires an owner's willingness to keep spending in order to keep winning. See Jessie Bates. See DJ Reader. See Tee Higgins.

It’s too late to save this season. No team that’s 0-4 at home, 3-5 overall, winners vs the Browns, Panthers and Giants, but losers to anyone good, is suddenly going to win 7 of its next 9.

Tick, tick, tick. Hear that? That’s the clock ticking on Joe’s time in Cincinnati and his career. It’s also the timer running out on fan patience and goodwill.

I see it. You see it. I think Joe is seeing it.

The organization knows it. But they got their franchise QB. They’ve left the rest up to him.

Admit it, you can’t help feeling queasy wondering if the Burrow contract, and stuff like the Ring of Honor and Ruler of the Jungle is just the equivalent of the Votto contract, bobbleheads and statues for the Reds. Shiny objects meant to pacify and distract. And that’s it.

Burrow’s having the best season of his career. He’s the top rated QB in the NFL.

The Bengals are now closer to a rebuild than the Super Bowl.

Buckle up. It’s going to get worse….and I can’t complete the thought with ‘before it gets better’

Higgins won’t be here next year. Heck, what if Ja’Marr Chase doesn’t want to be here next year?

Shame on this organization.

Alas we probably need to junk the schemes on both sides of the ball. Right now neither side has their scheme playing to what their players do well.

On offense, get under center and run power off tackle and inside. Do it enough for the line to develop confidence and aggression - letting linemen actually attack helps cohesion and thus performance. Backfield with RB plus Sample as a sort of FB with 2 WR and a TE (All or Gesicki). Adjust Run/Pass ratio to something closer to 55% pass instead of our current nearly 65% pass. Use route trees designed to get receivers into gaps in zones or more open otherwise.

On defense scrap zone FOR NOW - the players are incapable of running it correctly. Go to a more Zimmer like Press Man with emphasis on press at the LOS. Reduce Hubbard's snaps a lot and give Cedric Johnson more snaps too. Use stunts and other such DL maneuvers to try to give a pass rusher not named Trey a chance. And run more of a 4-3 for now. Again this is less than optimal but it is a reaction to the players being clearly incapable of running zone intelligently.

And (yes) sign a kicker off the street to compete with Mac. If nothing else put pressure on him to fix this nonsense. And on practices the nice guy approach ends. Players get pushed as hard as the rules allow and discipline is enforced and tackling coached constantly. And no matter who you are if you don't tackle you sit.

Lets face it we have a bottom 5 RB room I feel a stud RB would allow us to control TOP more open up the passing game and even protect a bad defense. This line isn't terrible best Zac has had nobody is afraid of our RB's

I'd love to know what's going on here.

We have seemingly changed our draft approach over the past few years and are prioritizing drafting athletes. Myles Murphy, Dax Hill, CTB, Yoshi, Mims, etc. I can't fault the front office for that one bit, I like that direction.

My issues and questions come next with player development. Who is responsible for player development? Position coaches, correct?

Why are these draft prospects seeminlg not getting any better? Why can't Myles Murphy, Dax, Yoshi, Battle, Turner, CTB, Ossai take that leap? Most of these guys should have the raw ability and tangibles based on draft measurables.

So the question I have is, are we drafting poor players that will never pan out, or are we not getting enough from our coaches via player develpoment? I know it's kind of a chicken and egg dillemma but it could be another sign that we have a poor coaching staff.

A bad Bengals team facing a bad Cowboys team needs something to liven it up. There will be a Simpsons based alternative broadcast on ESPN+ and Disney+.

Cowabunga Dude

Out of 255 defensive linemen with at least 50 snaps, Sam Hubbard ranks 252nd & Myles Murphy ranks 253rd in PFF Pass Rush Grading.
via @willie_lutz #bengals #whodey Murphy is a BUST

This thread is open to all Bengal fans to espouse how they would "realistically" fix the team's underperformance.  However, there are RULES:

• Team cannot relocate to another city
• Coach Taylor cannot be fired (he just signed a new contract)
• Team cannot transfer ownership
  

• Team personnel, Talent acquisition via draft or Free Agency.  
  

• Money Cap allocation
  

• Changing Coaching Staff (outside of Taylor)
  

• Player Personnel and Development Director
  

• Coaching Schemes
  

The highest-graded Bengals in Week 8 vs the Eagles:

? Joe Burrow - 86.6
? B.J. Hill - 85.2
? Mike Gesicki - 81.9
? Trey Hendrickson - 80.8
? Mike Hilton - 79.4 pic.twitter.com/XyPjASlxzq

— PFF CIN Bengals (@PFF_Bengals) October 28, 2024