{"id":488603,"date":"2026-02-20T22:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/488603\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T22:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T22:38:08","slug":"bengals-linked-to-free-agent-all-pro-bears-safety-who-led-nfl-in-interceptions-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/488603\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals linked to free agent All-Pro Bears safety who led NFL in interceptions in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> have some major work to do on the defensive side of the ball. And the safety room might need the most help this offseason.<\/p>\n

With Geno Stone hitting free agency, the Bengals likely need to add multiple safeties to the roster this offseason. While the draft class is a good opportunity to land an impact player, free agency has some solid options as well.<\/p>\n

PFF.com’s Mason Cameron<\/a> is linking the Bengals to a free-agent safety from the Chicago Bears<\/a> who led the NFL with 7 interceptions this past season. The Bengals were called the best landing spot for three-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard III.<\/p>\n

Bengals linked to Kevin Byard as best landing spot for All-Pro safety<\/p>\n

With Al Golden’s defense with Notre Dame in 2024 being great in Cover-1 usage, there’s one thing the Bengals need to do. As Cameron writes, “If the Bengals hope to resemble that, it starts with the safety position.”<\/p>\n

Byard is the clear best option, as he’s a center-fielder type of safety, and one who’s shown he’s capable of leading a defense from the secondary as a playmaking safety.<\/p>\n

This past season for the Bears, Byard had an NFL-best seven interceptions. He was named to his third Pro Bowl roster and also earned his third first-team All-Pro.<\/p>\n

More:\u00a0Bengals urged to overhaul ‘horrific’ position group this offseason<\/a><\/p>\n

In his NFL career, Byard has recorded 36 interceptions in his 10 years in the league, eight coming with the Tennessee Titans<\/a>, two with the Bears, and 10 games with the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n

The Bengals need safety help this offseason, and the best scheme fit is Byard, who would slot in perfectly at the back of Golden’s defense.<\/p>\n

While he’s 33 years old and not a long-term solution to the position, with the Bengals trying to win a Super Bowl in Joe Burrow’s time with the team, adding Byard would give the young Bengals defense a veteran leader who’s more than capable of leading a unit.<\/p>\n

More Bengals news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Bengals have some major work to do on the defensive side of the ball. And the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-488603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}