The Cincinnati Bengals went into this season as one of the Super Bowl favorites. Fans expected them to be one of the top teams in not just the AFC, but the entire NFL. They were expected by most to battle for the one seed in the AFC and potentially topple the Dynasty that is the Chiefs in the playoffs again. However, none of that has come to fruition this season.
Despite Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase playing at the highest levels of their careers, the Bengals are 4-7 and almost a lock to miss the playoffs. The Bengals are on the verge of wasting the career of the best quarterback in the history of the franchise because they won’t change their way of doing business, which hasn’t been good…well ever. If the Bengals don’t change their ways this offseason, they risk falling even further behind and losing not only the prime of Joe Burrow, but the fans as well.
We all know how the Bengals have been with their star players. Outside of Joe Burrow, they haven’t really paid and extended any of their stars in years. Kevin Zeitler, Andrew Whitworth, Jessie Bates, DJ Reader and about to be Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson, the Bengals too often don’t pay their stars when they should and let them just walk for nothing. That has to stop. Whether it’s paying their stars and extending them, even when it might be a little risky, as was the case with Reader and Whitworth or trading them before they walk for nothing, the Bengals have to change something.
This offseason, Tee Higgins is going to be a free agent and they shouldn’t just let him walk for nothing. Some people will say they will get a comp pick, but if they are active in free agency they might not even get that. Giving him a second franchise tag and trading him would be much more beneficial to the team. They might not be able to get a high second round pick like they could in the past, but they could get a later second or an early third and maybe a fifth out of him. If the Bengals can’t start paying their stars or getting assets for them, they are going to keep falling further behind other teams.
Something else the Bengals need to get better at is how they structure their contracts, which directly dictates the types of free agents they can bring in. The Bengals don’t like to give big guaranteed money and they mostly like to give it as a signing bonus that is paid in the first year. They don’t like to give multiple years of guaranteed money and when looking at big time players in free agency, they want the big guarantees. This has kept the Bengals from keeping some of their star players as well as signing stars in free agency. They have to keep signing more tier three and four free agents with the occasional tier two sprinkled in and hoping those tier three and four guys hit. Recently it hasn’t been working with the likes of Geno Stone, Sheldon Rankins, Irv Smith in 2023 and many more. Something has to change in the way the Bengals do contracts and soon if they want to keep up with the rest of the NFL.
Lastly, the Bengals need to stop holding onto head coaches past their expiration date. We saw how long they held onto Marvin Lewis and they looked like they could do the same with Zac Taylor. Zac Taylor had a good two year run with Joe Burrow, but he just isn’t what they need at head coach. He can’t give up play calling when it’s clear he has issues there. He has clear situational coaching issues that haven’t been fixed and he doesn’t hold his veteran players or coaches accountable when they need to be.
No team in NFL history has had the same coach and quarterback duo and won their first championship together after year five. This is year five for Burrow and Taylor and it’s clear they aren’t winning it all this year. The Bengals need to cut bait and bring in a whole new coaching staff. Keeping Zac like they did Marv and wasting Burrow is something that they absolutely cannot do.
This may be the most important offseason the Bengals have had in a long, long time. They are coming off of a year in which they might be the most disappointing team in football and instead of making a Super Bowl run, look like they will be drafting in the top ten again. They cannot just sit back and go about business the same way as they always have this offseason. They need to change their ways and change up the way they do business. If they don’t, Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Bengals fans everywhere may never forgive them.