2023 Offseason Update: Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals

r/bengals

AFC North

Coaching Changes: Shockingly? None. The Bengals went into the offseason appearing like they were going to lose both OC Brian Callahan and DC Lou Anarumo to head coaching jobs. Despite both of them going deep into interviews with multiple teams both coaches were retained in Cincinnati for another year. This might be the last year that this coaching tree has all of its limbs remain intact.

Free Agency

Players lost/cut

Player	Cut/Traded	New Team
Jessie Bates	Contract Expired	Atlanta Falcons
Vonn Bell	Contract Expired	Carolina Panthers
Hayden Hurst	Contract Expired	Carolina Panthers
Tre Flowers	Contract Expired	Atlanta Falcons
Brandon Allen	Contract Expired	San Francisco 49ers
Samaje Perine	Contract Expired	Denver Broncos
Chris Lammons	Contract Expired	Nevada Mean Machine
Clay Johnston	Contract Expired	None
Elijah Holyfield	Contract Expired	None
Clark Harris	Contract Expired	None (Retiring?)
Brandon Wilson	Contract Expired	None
Kevin Huber	Contract Expired	Retired
Tyron Johnson	Contract Expired	Dallas Cowboys
Eli Apple	Contract Expired	Miami Dolphins

Major Losses

Jessie Bates - This is obviously the biggest one. Jessie was a cornerstone of the defense that took the Bengals to the Super Bowl just last year. It was relatively well known coming into this season that there was little to no chance Jessie was re-signing with the team once his franchise year was up. Jessie came into his free agency year and performed as you might expect a player who was heading for free agency to play. His overall tackles were down substantially, but he had a career high 4 interceptions and a forced fumble. Hes going to be a loss for this team.

Vonn Bell - A member of the Bengals 2020 free agency class Vonn Bell made an immediate impact on the team that reverberated for his entire tenure in Cincinnati. Vonn started throughout the entire Super Bowl run and was off to a roaring start last year with four interceptions and two forced fumbles through 9 games before disaster struck and he was injured. Vonn is an absolute impact player who will be missed by the defense as well.

Samaje Perine - Samaje is a player whos impact isnt entirely noticeable on just a cursory glance at the stats. However any further deep dive and you see how good he actually was. With only two starts Samaje amassed 394 rushing yards and 287 receiving yards. He was more than serviceable change of pace back who frankly performed at starter levels at points in the season.

Hayden Hurst - Another player whos numbers don't quite tell the whole story. Hurst had 414 yards in the regular season which sounds like "mid" tight end numbers, but Hayden was a huge part of the offense. He played in 13 games and had 19 3rd down catches on 22 targets for an average of 7.4 yards per attempt. He also averaged 9.4 yards a catch on 1st down.

Eli Apple - Eli was seen as a backup last year and in the end had to take a much larger role in the team. Most assumed between Mike Hilton, Cam Taylor Britt, and Awuzie that Eli would seldom see the field, and boy most were wrong. Eli started 15 games with the Bengals.

Kevin Huber/Clark Harris - Well this may be one of those things that people look at and say "wow you really consider a punter and long snapper major losses?" Yes. Clark Joined in 2008, and Kevin Joined in 2009 making both guys the last hold outs of the Palmer era.

Clark Harris came into Cincinnati and helped bring stability to a position that frankly had been god awful prior to his arrival. He joined the team and was the long snapper for almost every game from when he joined in 2008 until his unfortunate injury against the Steelers in game one of last year.

Kevin Huber likewise was joined in the Palmer era out of a positional need. He was a draft pick out of the university of Cincinnati and set the record for games played by a Bengal last year at 216.

Both of these guys were invaluable to the franchise through three eras of Bengals football and will be missed.

Players signed

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Player	Position	Signed/Re-signed	Length
Orlando Brown Jr	LT	Signed	4 Years
Germaine Pratt	Linebacker	Re-Signed	3 Years
Nick Scott	Safety	Signed	3 Years
Joe Bachie	Linebacker	Re-Signed	1 year
Jalen Davis	Cornerback	Re-Signed	2 Years
Michael Thomas	Safety	Re-Signed	1 year
Trayveon Williams	Running Back	Re-Signed	1 year
Trent Taylor	Wide Receiver	Re-Signed	1 year
Cody Ford	Offensive Tackle	Signed	1 year
Sidney Jones	Cornerback	Signed	1 year
Irv Smith Jr	Tight End	Signed	1 year
Tarell Bashan	Outside Linebacker	Signed	1 year
Drew Sample	Tight End	Re-Signed	1 year
Trevor Siemian	Quarter Back	Signed	1 year
Mitchell Wilcox	Tight End	Re-Signed	1 year
Trey Hendrickson	Defensive End	Extended	1 year additional

This is going to end up being an interesting free agency class. At face value most of the players are either re-signed or depth, however there are definitely going to be some impact players here.

Orlando Brown Jr – The biggest signing of the year shores up the left side of the Bengals offensive line for the next 4 years. Its no secret that the Bengals have had issues with the offensive line and have now spent two off seasons attempting to correct this. Orlando Brown Junior was arguably the best LT in free agency this year and the Bengals getting him and sliding Jonah Williams over to the right side was honestly shocking. If Orlando Brown is able to be the game changer the team thinks he is the Bengals offense should be even better.

Germaine Pratt – I think if you talked to most Bengals fans prior to free agency they’d have told you there was little chance that Pratt was coming back. To re-sign Pratt for 3 years is shoring up the LB position for the next 3 years and put the team into a better position to keep their defense operating at a high level.

Nick Scott – Nick is the immediate answer to replacing Vonn Bell, with the chance of Jordan Battle supplanting him in the future. He’s got big shoes to fill, and had a nice year in 2022 with the Rams with 86 tackles, two interceptions and two forced fumbles, not bad at all for a former 7th round pick.

Irv Smith Jr – This years stop on the “Bengals get a tight end a big contract with another team” train is Irv Smith Jr! Irv was drafted in the second round in 2019 by the Minnesota Vikings. He has 88 receptions for 844 yards and 9 touchdowns in his four year career. After what was done with Hayden Hurst last year I fully expect Irv to put up career highs in receptions, touchdowns, and yards, then for him to leave in free agency for 3/20.

Draft Results

Round	Player	Position	School
1	Myles Murphy	Edge	Clemson
2	DJ Turner	Cornerback	Michigan
3	Jordan Battle	Safety	Alabama
4	Charlie Jones	Wide Receiver	Purdue
5	Chase Brown	Running Back	Illinois
6	Andrei Iosivas	Wide Receiver	Princeton
6	Brad Robbins	Punter	Michigan
7	DJ Ivey	Cornerback	Miami

I'm going to break these guys down into categories.

Immediate Contributors:

Myles Murphy - I fully expect Murphy to have a big role this year. I don't know if he starts at all, and to an extent I don't think he does, but I expect him to get significant playing time at some point this year. One story that has come out in the offseason was from the Bengals strength coach about the fact that Murphy did 20 straight pull ups at his game weight of 280lbs then proceeded to run 20.1mph (GPS tracked).

DJ Turner - With the loss of Eli Apple even with the return of Awuzie I expect second rounder DJ Turner to see significant playing time early. He reportedly ran the fastest 40 yard dash at the combine and should help improve the speed of a group that often felt like it got burned when Apple was targeted.

Brad Robbins - As I mentioned previously the Bengals parted ways with Kevin Huber who has in turn retired. Drue Chrisman took over as the Punter for the Bengals and was serviceable but not what I would call elite. You don't invest a draft pick in a punter unless you think they have real talent. The Bengals have a training camp battle with Chrisman and Robbins for the punter of the future, if Robbins wins out he will be an immediate contributor this year.

Possible Contributors this year:

Jordan Battle - With the addition of Nick Scott Battle doesn't have to be an immediate starter and that may be good. It will allow him to ease into the league. Battle has been quiet for the most part this off season but alabama fans rave about him. He could force his way into the starting line up if things fall his way.

Chase Brown - The restructured deal for Mixon means the Bengals aren't necessarily looking for a new lead back right now. When Brown has talked to reporters hes talked about working on his run blocking more than anything else with pass catching short behind it. It sounds like theres a good chance he has already been told to plan on being a 3rd down back early on. If he has a role similar to Perine this year his impact could be massive.

Maybe next year:

Charlie Jones and Andrei Iosivas - I wish the best for both of these guys, but honestly I don't understand these picks. No one reading this was muttering "Wow the bengals need more Wide Receivers" yet here we are. With Boyd, Chase, and Higgins as well as Mixon, Irv Smith, Trenton Irwin, and Trent Taylor I just don't see these guys getting much of a shot this year. I could be wrong, and if one of them breaks out it might make it easier for the team to move on from Boyd in the off season.

DJ Ivey - I don't expect much this year out of Ivey with Turner drafted ahead of him, however hes gotten praise from CB coach Chuck Burks as being able to play the position "at a high level" and has been praised for his 4.46 speed. Speed really seems to be the common denominator with the defensive players in this years draft.

Other Offseason News that Affected the Team

Joe Mixon sure had an offseason. He had someone get shot on his property....maybe by his sister? He was arrested for threatening someone with a gun, and of course he signed a new restructured deal for less money.

This has also been the off season of the Burrow and Higgins contract. As of this writing nothing has officially happened on either fronts, but it looks like it might be getting close.

Projected Roster

Position	Starter	Second/Backup	Third/Backup
Quarterback	Joe Burrow	Trevor Siemian	Jake Browning
Runningback	Joe Mixon	Chase Brown	Trayveon Williams/Chris Evans
Wide Receiver	Ja'Marr Chase	Charlie Jones	Trent Taylor
Wide Receiver	Tee Higgins	Trenton Irwin	Stanley Morgan
Wide Receiver	Tyler Boyd	Andrei Iosivas
Tight End	Irv Smith Jr	Mitchell Wilcox	Drew Sample
Left Tackle	Orlando Brown Jr	Jonah Williams	Jackson Carman
Left Guard	Cordell Volson	Max Scharping	Nate Gilliam
Center	Ted Karras	Trey Hill	Ben Brown
Right Guard	Alex Cappa	Hakeem Adeniji
Right Tackle	Jonah Williams	La'El Collins	Jackson Carman/Cody Ford
Left Defensive End	Sam Hubbard	Myles Murphy	Cam Sample
Left Defensive Tackle	DJ Reader	Josh Tupou
Right Defensive End	BJ Hill	Zach Carter
Right Defensive Tackle	Trey Hendrickson	Joseph Ossai
Weak Side Linebacker	Logan Wilson	Joe Bachie
Middle Linebacker	Germain Pratt	Jaylen Moody
Strong Side Linebacker	Akeem Davis Gaither	Markus Bailey	Keandre Jones
Strong Safety	Nick Scott	Jordan Battle	Brandon Wilson
Free Safety	Dax Hill	Michael Thomas	Tycen Anderson
Left Cornerback	Chidobe Awuzie	DJ Turner	DJ Ivey
Right Cornerback	Cam Taylor Britt	Mike Hilton	Jalen Davis

Position Group Strengths and Weaknesses

Position groups:

QB – Well previously I would have said this is an elite group just because Joe Burrow is leading it. I still want to believe that but I’d like to hear more about Burrows calf before I go into too much detail on how amazing this group is. Jake Browning has been getting a lot of run from the local press for looking good through the first few days of training camp. I wouldn’t be entirely shocked to see him as the eventual second string QB but for now since he has game experience I expect Trevor to remain in the second string position.

WR/TE – I don’t think its much of a stretch to call this the best WR room in the league. When Chase went down for an extended period last year everyone thought this team would fall back because teams would just double team Tee Higgins. Instead not only did Higgins thrive but players like Trenton Irwin stepped up out of nowhere to catch 231 yards in 9 games and only two starts. Add the guys in that were drafted this year and this is a deep deep deep WR corps.

Tight End is not as deep, but the Bengals have spent the last two years taking Tight Ends who had a lot of potential but not yet lived up to it and lifting them to new contracts. I fully expect Irv Smith to have a career year this year.

RB – This may be an issue. Joe Mixon had a little over 1200 yards from scrimmage last year, which is down from what this team expects from Mixon, but still a serviceable number. However, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Chris Evans has been disappointing since he was drafted and Trayveon Williams has not had much chance to shine with only 231 yard in his career. If Chase Brown can come in and make an immediate impact in training camp he can easily take the Samaje position from last year spelling Mixon and possibly taking over as the lead back. This is going to be something to watch going forward as one of the most intriguing training camp battles.

Offensive Line – Boy this is going to be an interesting one this year. On Paper the OL is substantially better than it has been the last two years and that’s considering that they were SUBSTANTIALLY better last year than the year before. However, what happened? They had injuries in consecutive weeks losing 3 offensive lineman in 3 weeks. The lineup for this year looks substantially better on paper, but more than anything it looks deeper.

Defensive Line – Sam Hubbard, BJ Hill, Trey Hendrickson, and DJ Reader is a nightmare front for any offense. Now add first round pick Myles Murphy and Joseph Ossai into the mix and this is a very strong defensive front four. I’d put this defensive line against most defensive lines in football from a pure talent perspective. The Bengals gave up the third fewest points in the AFC last year and this line is a big part of the reason why.

Linebacker – Logan Wilson, Germain Pratt, and Akeem Davis Gaither are all three studs as starters, but the depth doesn’t currently look amazing. This may be one of the few positions the team is thin at. Then again its possible that Lou could work some magic with the second stringers if it comes down to it.

Secondary – Awuzie, Britt, Scott, and Hill are all extremely talented looking members of the secondary with a lot of question marks. Awuzie has been incredible for the Bengals but was lost last year to an injury. He just came off the PUP list a few days ago and should be ready to go for the start of the season, but is he ready? Dax Hill and Cam Taylor Britt are both second year players who showed a lot of promise towards the end of last year but you have to put a lot on their shoulders this year. Nick Scott had a nice year with the Ram last year, but this is going to be a big step for him. Last year was his first year as a starter for the Rams in a year where it was apparent really early the Rams weren’t doing much. This year he will be expected to start for a Bengals team that many are picking as Super Bowl contenders. Behind these guys Mike Hilton and Michael Thomas have showed a lot of promise and played extremely well at times and Jordan Battle will have a chance to make his case as a future starter.

Special Teams – Special teams is looking stronger this year than it has in a while. Kicker has not been a worry since Evan McPherson was drafted, but unfortunately Punter has been a position of weakness for the last year or two. Drue Chrisman has been okay since he took over for Kevin Huber, but he hasn’t exactly been booming kicks. The drafting of a punter this year makes it appear like the team might be looking for a substantial upgrade in punter. If Brad Robbins takes over as the punter of the future this teams special teams may be fixed for the next few years.

Schedule Predictions

Week 1 – Bengals @ Browns

Opening up with the Battle for Ohio sure is going to be a show down. This will be a test for a new look Bengals defense that is without Bates or Bell and a once again reworked Bengals OLine against Myles Garrett. I believe the Bengals offense will overcome the Browns defense.

Final Score Bengals 27- Brown 17.

Week 2 – Bengals Vs Ravens

A second AFC North Match up in two weeks is honestly almost a little unfair. Bengals Ravens has been hard nose football and last season was no exception. The Bengals lost offensive linemen in back to back Ravens games between week 18 and the wildcard round. So the Bengals will hopefully have a substantially healthier offense than the last time they played the Ravens. However the Bengals will not be playing the Pro Bowl QB Tyler Huntley and will instead be playing non Pro Bowl QB Lamar Jackson. This will be a close tough game.

Final Score 24-17 Bengals.

Week 3 – Bengals Vs Rams

This could be a massive matchup for this early in the season. These two teams haven’t faced off in a meaningful game since the Super Bowl. They did however have a joint practice last year and boy howdy did it go swimmingly, as long as you ignore a massive fight that occurred at the end of the second practice that involved La’el Collins taking swings and Aaron Donald swinging Bengals helmets at people. So no theres definitely not any bad blood here. This will be a big match up that I think the Bengals in particular will be “up for” more than any other game in the first quarter of the season.

Final Score Bengals 31 Rams 17

Week 4 – Bengals @ Titans

The Titans appear to be a bit of a mess right now. They don’t have a real receiving threat and its not clear if their QB of the Future is also the QB of the present. Heres what I do know for sure, The Bengals played the Titans last season without Awuzie and without Vonn Bell and still held Derrick Henry to 38 yards on 17 carries and Ryan Tannehill without a TD. Obviously anything can happen, but this should not be a close game when its all said and done.

Final Score Bengals 24 Titans 10

Week 5 – Bengals @ Cardinals

I expect the Cardinals to be a substantially better team this year than last year, I do not expect this to be a competitive game. This early in the season the Cardinals should still be gelling and working to figure out their identity.

Final Score Bengals 35 Cardinals 17

Week 6 Bengals Vs Seahawks

The Seahawks are a very good team that on paper should have a lot of continuity from last year. The Seahawks scored a lot of points, but also gave up a lot of points. I don’t see why this would be any different.

Bengals 35 Seahawks 31

Week 7 – Bye Week

Week 8 – Bengals @ 49ers

This has all the makings of a trap game. I don’t think the Bengals will exactly take the 49ers lightly, but I can’t help but think that coming off of a bye week and with the Bills the next week this game could be a loss for the Bengals. The 49ers had a very potent offense post adding CMC last year and I don’t see any reason that changes this year unless Purdy regresses. I think this will be a tough match up that the 49ers will win and once again my childhood being ruined will be brought up by the announcers.

Bengals 13 49ers 20

Week 9 – Bengals Vs Bills

In a rematch of last years AFC Divisional round game the Bengals and Bills play a game on a sunday night on NBC that is going to dredge up a lot of memories of Damar Hamlins horrifying injury and an ill timed whopper commercial. This is going to be an emotional game for both teams and if the Bengals really are going to compete for the 1 seed a game they’ll have to win. The Bengals took the Bills to the wood shed in the divisional round, a loss that the Bills are going to be keen on avenging. This game could go either way, but the Burrow lead bengals havent shied away from the lights when they’ve gotten bright (unless they are playing the brown on halloween) this should be a Bengals win.

Bengals 27 Bills 19

Week 10 – Bengals Vs Texans

On paper this shouldn’t be close. The Texans are rolling up with a Rookie QB against a defense that has been very stout in the past and we have no reason to this it won’t be this year as well. Final Score Bengals 38 Texans 10

Week 11 – Bengals @ Ravens

The Bengals and Ravens are two very evenly matched teams, last year the Bengals pulled out the last two games, while the Ravens won their first meeting. All 3 games were very close. I gave the Bengals the edge in their opening matchup, but am giving the Ravens the edge here. They have an incredible secondary and I think that wins out at home.

Final Score Ravens 30 Bengals 20

Week 12 – Bengals Vs Steelers

This should be a big year for the team from Pittsburgh with them taking a major step forward. The second year for both Pickens and Pickett should be big steps from last year and a step towards them being substantially more competitive. However I don’t believe that they make that big of a step forward against The Bengals and the revamped Offensive Line in Cincinnati. Final Score Bengals 27 Steelers 17

Week 13 – Bengals @ Jaguars

This should be a fun matchup of two very good young QBs who played very tough playoff games last year. In the end I think the Bengals have the better team and that will translate to a win. I am incredibly interested in seeing how Calvin Ridley looks on the Jags this year and think this could be a good game for him.

Final Score Bengals 27 Jaguars 23

Week 14 – Bengals Vs Colts

On paper again this shouldn’t be much of a fight. The Colts are a young team that’s rebuilding, however the Colts have often had the Bengals number in a way that is infuriating for a team that’s only 2 hours away. This game should not be close, but it will be.

Final score Bengals 24 Colts 17

Week 15 – Bengals Vs Vikings

I’m not sure what to think of this years Vikings team. Axing Dalvin Cook is just a weird look, but the Vikings have been a RB factory for the last decade constantly having very good, high end RBs so by the time week 15 rolls around I could easily see them having a very good RB corp to replace Dalvin. I really don’t have a lot of thoughts on this game other than I believe it goes the Bengals way.

Final Score Bengals 21 Vikings 13

Week 16 – Bengals @ Steelers

Steelers matchups are always rough for the team from Cincinnati. While I think this game will be close in particular because its being played in Pittsburgh, similar to their first game I think this game goes the Bengals way. Final Score Bengals 24 Steelers 20

Week 17 – Bengals @ Chiefs

In a repeat of the 2021 season the Bengals and Chiefs will play in the second to last game of the season. This time it occurs at KC. This game frankly is a toss up to me, much like the last 4 games against the Chiefs have been. Its going to come down to a late touchdown or field goal, but frankly could easily go either way. I’m going to predict a final score of 30 - 23, which team wins? No idea.

Week 18 – Bengals Vs Browns

Once again mirroring the 2021 season the Bengals will face the Browns in the final game. As I’m predicting the Bengals will win the division this will include most of the Bengals starters being rested. Trevor Siemian will start and the Bengals will take a loss to a Browns team starting most if not all of their starters.

Browns 17 Bengals 10

Season Predictions

My final record prediction is 14-3 or 13-4 depending on the outcome of the Chiefs game. 2020 Bengals Fan Usidore feels like 2023 Bengals fan Usidore is being ridiculous, but this is a team that was 12-4 last year and one of those losses only came because of absolute fluke play by an emergency long snapper. They are incredibly talented and were basically a hair away from the 1 seed last year (the chiefs and Bills both had 3 losses). They have a very tough schedule ahead of them, including the gauntlet that is the AFC North. If they can come out of this with 3-4 losses this team will be among the more battle tested AFC teams in years.

Assuming they make the playoffs this is a team that should contend for the Super Bowl. Will they? Only time will tell, but I expect this team as its made up to give a run for their money to any other top teams in the AFC. If this team can somehow snag the one seed any team coming into Cincinnati will be in for a top notch atmosphere.

Training Camp Storyline

The most interesting storyline this training camp is that this is going to be Joe Burrows first real training camp. 2020 was covid, 2021 he was rehabbing from his knee injury, and 2022 he had his appendix removed. So this is going to be his first time entering the season with actual practice under his belt, which will be interesting. Last year it took Joe 4 games to get going post his appendix removal and weight loss. This year it will be interesting to see how quickly he gets up to speed. If he starts game one like he started game five last year the league is in deep trouble.

I have no words for this.

Obviously the new storyline for training camp and really the asterisks for everything I’ve written to this point is the health of Joe Burrow. I’ve been traveling for work this week and was in a meeting when I got the text about Burrow being carted off. The person who lead the meeting came up to me afterward and said he couldn’t figure out why I looked distraught out of the blue, then he checked his phone when the meeting ended and figured it out.

All of my predictions, ideas, hopes and dreams for this team this year are riding on Joe Burrows calf being 100% by week 1. If for some reason his current strain puts a strain on the Bengals and Trevor Siemian or Jake Browning end up starting a significant number of early games this all becomes moot and the season becomes substantially harder.

So the new training camp storyline at this point has to be how Trevor and Jake are doing and who is taking first team reps. Currently they are alternating on a day to day basis, it will be interesting to see how long that continues. Taylor has also said they will sign another QB. It will be interesting to see if they go after someone like Jameis Winston who has significant starting experience or someone more along the lines of Trevor Siemian who showed some potential but has never really started.

Either way its obvious that Bengals fans are hoping that Joes calf muscle is rested and ready to go by Week 1 against the Browns on the road.