{"id":566562,"date":"2026-04-05T19:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T19:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/566562\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T19:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T19:50:11","slug":"zac-taylor-has-one-year-to-figure-this-out-says-nfl-exec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/566562\/","title":{"rendered":"Zac Taylor has one year to \u201cfigure this out\u201d, says NFL exec"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Cincinnati Bengals went all in on defense in free agency (at least by the standards of this franchise).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Even with the departure of Trey Hendrickson, they should be improved from last year thanks to the additions of safety Bryan Cook, edge Boye Mafe, and DT Jonathan Allen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">But, according to an anonymous NFL exec, that doesn\u2019t mean Zac Taylor and his staff are safe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThey knew they had to fix some stuff on defense,\u201d the exec <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7165189\/2026\/04\/02\/nfl-free-agency-2026-afc-execs-best-worst\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">told The Athletic\u2019s Mike Sando<\/a>. \u201cIt looks like they are saying, \u2018You guys have one year to figure this out. Otherwise, we can get out of the coach\u2019s contract.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">And Taylor might not even be positioned to succeed, as the free agent moves aren\u2019t all homeruns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Another exec Sando spoke with was critical of the Mafe signing, calling the former Seattle Seahawk \u201ca DPR (designated pass rusher) who does not play the run at all.\u201d He added thatMafe won\u2019t have as much support in Cincinnati, because, \u201cin Seattle, it was more about rushing four as one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Further, the Bengals may have not gotten great value with Mafe\u2019s deal. The exec believes Mafe is a lesser player than Malcolm Koonce, who the Las Vegas Raiders signed for nearly half the money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Ultimately, Mafe will need to become a better finisher, the exec said, and he could potentially be more productive in Cincinnati, since he\u2019ll now be able to \u201cjust rip upfield.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cincinnati Bengals went all in on defense in free agency (at least by the standards of this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[101816,349,99],"class_list":["post-566562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-cincinnati-bengals-analysis","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}