CINCINNATI \u2014\u00a0The Bengals defense could look a lot different this fall.<\/p>\n
Sports\u00a0Illustrated’s\u00a0Albert Breer certainly expects<\/a>\u00a0that after his latest comments on Trey\u00a0Hendrickson’s\u00a0future and more. He\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0think the star pass rusher will return, but he does think Cincinnati will\u00a0make some noise in free agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n Former Cincinnati Bearcat safeties like Bryan Cook and Coby Bryant could be strong options on the open market. He also mentioned Eagles free-agent edge rusher Jaelan Phillips as a potential target.<\/p>\n “I\u2019d\u00a0be pretty surprised if Hendrickson ended up back in Cincinnati next year,” Breer wrote. “The Bengals gave him a big raise, up to $29 million last year, and only got seven games out of him, and there were real questions on how much he did to push through injuries. (Particularly when juxtaposed with how maniacal Joe Burrow was in trying to return from his toe injury ahead of schedule).<\/p>\n “And yes, I could see the Bengals aggressively pursuing free agents on defense. Should Hendrickson depart, landing someone like Eagles free-agent Jaelan Phillips would make a lot of sense. A free-agent safety, like\u00a0Seattle\u2019s\u00a0Coby Bryant or Kansas\u00a0City\u2019s\u00a0Bryan Cook, would, too.\u00a0We\u2019ll\u00a0see if they get the commitment from ownership to spend to add to a unit with some promising young pieces (Shemar Stewart, DJ Turner II, and Demetrius Knight Jr.).”<\/p>\n The thinking\u00a0falls in line\u00a0with comments from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Super Bowl Sunday.<\/p>\n “I do expect the Bengals to take his words and kind of use it to spur them on a little bit to really spend this offseason,”\u00a0Rapoport said a few days ago<\/a>. “Now, Burrow was clearly talking during the Pro Bowl.\u00a0He likes Cincinnati, saying basically during the press conference,\u00a0he kind of\u00a0just had a bad day.\u00a0Those are allowed sometimes, even at press conferences, but I\u00a0expect the Bengals to enhance and support everything Joe Burrow does, to spend probably more on the defense than anything else.”<\/p>\n Cincinnati has no reason not to pursue talented defensive free agents if it’s serious about winning a title with Burrow. He’s been playing with a bottom-four defense by EPA\/play and success rate allowed when combining all the snaps since the start of the 2023 season.<\/p>\n The greatest quarterbacks on earth can’t win with that kind of defensive ineptitude. You largely have to have competency in all three phases of the game, and Cincinnati has fallen way short on the defensive side since its last trip to the playoffs.<\/p>\n They have the top 10 cap space, very few needs on offense, and every incentive to spend now while Burrow’s cap hit stays largely static over the next three seasons (Maxes out at 16.32% in 2026, likely will keep falling as the salary cap continues to rise). The time is now, after a 2025 offseason spent signing internal stars.\u00a0<\/p>\n Check out Breer’s\u00a0full piece here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sign UP For Our DAILY Newsletter, accessing more free coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals, delivered to YOU directly<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more on the Bengals,\u00a0subscribe to our YouTube Channel<\/a>\u00a0and watch the video below as part of our in-depth coverage of the team. Prefer to listen? Check out\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals Talk on Apple,<\/a>\u00a0Spotify<\/a>, and\u00a0Amazon Podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Make sure you\u00a0bookmark BengalsTalk.com\u00a0for the latest Bengals news<\/a>, exclusive interviews, insight, film breakdowns, and so much more!<\/p>\n Also, check out the podcast, Locked On Bengals, wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n Apple:\u00a0bit.ly\/BengalsApple<\/a><\/p>\n Spotify:\u00a0bit.ly\/BengalsSpotify<\/a><\/p>\n YouTube:\u00a0bit.ly\/LOBengalsYouTube<\/a><\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Follow us on X:\u00a0@BengalsTalkSI<\/a><\/p>\n