The ESSENTIAL Football Show 2025 Cap Space: $20.9 million
2026 Cap Space: $72.8 million
2027 Cap Space: $140.7 million
2026 Draft Picks: Own Picks, Rounds 1-7
For a team with all the players Cincinnati has on offense, I found it fascinating to realize how overwhelmingly obsessed I became with whether Amarius Mims was on the field at right tackle down the stretch. During the 2024 draft process, the take on Mims was relatively universal: top-10 talent, pops off the film, but huge injury concerns due to his inability to stay on the field.
The same held true during his rookie season in the NFL; Mims checks in at about 6’8, 340, but I’m not sure I’ve seen another lineman with easier quickness, fluidity, and overall movement ability, regardless of position. Mims broke his hand down the stretch, and attempted to play with a club, which brought to mind a lion trying to operate with a missing paw; the athleticism and footwork were still on full display, but as it turns out, hand placement is awfully important to offensive line play, so the experiment was short-lived.
It’s the type of bet Cincinnati needs to pay off around the recent extensions for quarterback Joe Burrow and receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. That group is elite, but the team needs to get a lot better around them, and their ability to upgrade outside of the draft was limited by the contract negotiations with their receiver duo and the ongoing issues with defensive end Trey Hendrickson.
Quarterback
Starter: Joe Burrow
Backups: Jake Browning, Logan Woodside
Running Back
Starters: Chase Brown
Backups: Zack Moss, Samaje Perine, Tahj Brooks (6th Rd)
Wide Receiver
Starters: Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Andrei Iosivas
Backups: Jermaine Burton, Charlie Jones, Kendric Pryor
Tight End
Starters: Mike Gesicki, Drew Sample
Backups: Erick All (knee), Tanner Hudson
Offensive Line
Starters: Orlando Brown Jr., Cordell Volson, Ted Karras, Cody Ford, Amarius Mims
Backups: Jalen Rivers (5th Rd), Dylan Fairchild (3rd Rd), Matt Lee, Lucas Patrick, Devin Cochran
Offense Overview
As explosive as this offense as in 2024, I think there’s another level that could be unlocked with better health and improved line play.
The two go hand-in-hand at offensive tackle, where Orlando Brown Jr. and Mims should form a quality tackle tandem if both are available. Brown lacks the sort of short-area quickness that makes Mims stand out, but when he’s right, Brown has a good understanding of how to use his 6’8, 340-pound frame to keep things in check, and certainly slots in as a solid starter on the blind side.
It’s possible that third-round pick Dylan Fairchild wins a starting job on the interior, but as it stands, improvement in the run game will likely need to come on Mims’ back, because Cordell Volson, Ted Karras, and Cody Ford aren’t going to produce much more than adequate results on the interior. If the Bengals can weaponize Mims’ ability to displace defenders, they have a back who can take full advantage of the holes in Chase Brown, who is a good fit in an offense that is going to play with more of a spread feel, given that “tight end” Mike Gesicki is a de facto receiver.
We’ve seen Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins be the driving forces on a team that made a Super Bowl run despite lackluster offensive line play and a defense that, while very good, was not snuffing out opponent offenses in a way that left questions about what made Cincinnati great. 2023 and 2024 didn’t go their way for a variety of reasons, but the Bengals were back in the AFC Championship game the year after their Super Bowl run, and if the defense can rebound under new coordinator Al Golden, they should be back in the thick of the race.
Defensive Tackle
Starters: B.J. Hill, T.J. Slaton
Backups: Kris Jenkins, McKinnley Jackson
Edge
Starters: Trey Hendrickson, Joseph Ossai
Backups: Shemar Stewart (1st Rd), Myles Murphy, Cam Sample
Linebackers
Starters: Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt
Backups: Demetrius Knight (2nd Rd), Barrett Carter (4th Rd), Oren Burks
Safety
Starters: Geno Stone, Jordan Battle
Backups: Tycen Anderson, Daijahn Anthony
Slot
Starter: Dax Hill
Backups: Jalen Davis
Outside CB
Starters: Cam Taylor-Britt, DJ Turner
Backups: Josh Newton, DJ Ivey, Marco Wilson
Defense Overview
The silver lining from last year’s performance is that things can’t get much worse. It’s a play that will go largely forgotten, but the cherry on top of all this came in Week 15 against Tennessee, when safety Jordan Battle, who consistently struggled to make plays throughout the season, scooped up a fumble with Tennessee driving and returned it 60 yards, only to drop the ball a yard short of the goal line and hand it back to the Titans on their own 20.
That mishap aside, the Bengals are counting on new coordinator Al Golden to lead a rebound, because the additions of note were limited to their top two draft picks, edge Shemar Stewart and linebacker Demetrius Knight, and run-stuffing defensive tackle T.J. Slaton. On top of what that trio brings, Cincinnati needs to get development out of a defensive line group that features former 1st-round (edge Myles Murphy), 2nd-round (tackle Kris Jenkins Jr.), and 3rd-round (McKinnley Jackson) picks from the past two drafts, as well as better health and performance out of a secondary that has seen similar investments. If 2022 1st-rounder Dax Hill and 2023 2nd-rounder DJ Turner are on the field this season, and Jordan Battle takes a marginal step forward next to Geno Stone at safety, this defense could be middle-of-the-pack, but if they have to tap their depth, it’s probably going to get ugly, even with some of the flashes 2024 5th-rounder Josh Newton showed as a rookie.
The second level looks set to run in back, as Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt are still on the roster, but Demetrius Knight, their second-round pick, looms as an X-Factor. It’s possible that Golden wants to play more base defense than his predecessor, who lived primarily in nickel, which would make sense in a division that features the run-heavy Baltimore Ravens and a league shifting toward that approach, but it would be a huge win if Knight winds up being their best linebacker. Wilson has always been steady, and Pratt worked his way up to that standard after some early-career struggles, but neither is dynamic, and this defense needs all the dynamic players it can get.
Overall Outlook
Cincinnati was a few breaks from getting into the playoffs in 2024, and had they made it, they would have been a force to be reckoned with. Burrow had an injury-shortened season in 2023, and the results were what they were in 2024, but a bounce-back in 2025 shouldn’t be a surprise. As difficult as it is to stay at the top of the defensive rankings year after year, it’s also hard to be as bad as they were last season, and there should be some degree of returning to the mean. It’s dangerous to say things can go worse, and the defense could certainly wind up being a very similar unit to last year’s if Golden’s addition doesn’t shake things up, but the elite talent is in place to push for a championship if things come together.