CINCINNATI – What the Cincinnati Bengals do — or don’t do — next week will play a big role in what they accomplish — or fail to accomplish — in the 2024 NFL season.
The team heads into this free-agent cycle with more needs than they’ve had in the last few and enough money to address them.
Let’s dive into a few quick free agency suggestions for the Bengals ahead of what will be a pivotal week-plus, beginning on Monday.
Cincinnati Bengals Free Agency Predictions
Sign Trent Brown To Fill Biggest Need
Yes, one of the best offensive tackle classes in recent history is coming into the league just as the Bengals need to find a replacement for right tackle Jonah Williams, but Cincinnati cannot afford to sit around and wait.
What if the top five tackles in the 2024 NFL Draft are off the board by the time the Bengals pick at No. 18? The organization has learned some important lessons about the need to fortify the offensive line. Signing a veteran right tackle in free agency and picking one early in the draft is the path forward.
Brown is a 6’8″, 370-pound behemoth who fits the mold of the line as currently constructed. He played left tackle the last two seasons in New England, but the majority of his 93 career starts have come on the right side.
He has a Super Bowl ring and a Pro Bowl on his resume, and last year Brown was Pro Football Focus’ 12th highest graded tackle, regardless of side.
Two years ago Brown signed a two-year, $13 million contract heading into his age-29 season. He’ll be 31 in April, so he’ll probably come a little cheaper this time. But even if he doesn’t, the Bengals could live with a $6.5 million AAV to ensure they have a proven veteran ready to compete with whatever rookie they select.
Sign Da’Quan Jones To Solidify the Interior D-Line
Once upon a time, the Bengals had a chance to draft Jones and took center Russell Bodine instead. Bodine played four seasons and was out of the league. Jones went to the Tennessee Titans the pick after Bodine, and the defensive tackle from Penn State just finished his 10th season.
Jones has appeared in 139 games with 133 starts, and the 6’4″, 320-pounder is the kind of run stuffer the Bengals need to drop into the middle of the defensive line.
Pro Football Focus had Jones graded as the No. 7 defensive tackle in the league last year.
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He only played seven games due to a pectoral injury, but he fought his way back from that to play in the final two regular season games and Buffalo’s two playoff games.
Jones is on the wrong side of 30 — he’ll turn 32 in December — but he still is a top tier run stopper, and the Bengals don’t need to break the bank with a four-year deal on a D-tackle the way they did with DJ Reader in 2020.
Sign Jones, draft a defensive tackle on Day 1 or 2, and see where the market lands with Reader, and one of the biggest holes on the team could turn into a strength at an affordable cost.
Add Alohi Gilman to Lou Anarumo’s Lab
The Bengals are unsure if safety is the best position for 2022 first-round pick Dax Hill, which is fine. The question isn’t whether Hill can play but where.
Adding a veteran safety should be one of the biggest priorities in free agency. The issue here is whether Gilman qualifies. The fact that the 2020 sixth-round pick only has one full season as a starter could give Cincinnati pause after the failed Nick Scott experiment last year when he too joined the team in free agency after just one full season as a starter.
The free agent market is flooded with veteran safeties this year, many of whom are older than Gilman and will command more money. Gilman won’t turn 27 until after the season begins, and he’s coming off a season in which PFF ranked his sixth-highest-graded safety and named him to its All-Breakout Team.
Gilman has some work to do at becoming a better tackler, but he played 660 of his 928 defensive snaps at free safety, which is where the Bengals would slot him if they moved Hill to cornerback.
Of the 17 highest-paid safeties in 2023, four played for teams that made the playoffs. Finding a talented young safety with starting experience at an affordable cost is the best way to go, especially for a team such as Cincinnati with so much money allotted at other positions, and Gilman fits that role perfectly.
Sign J.K. Dobbins To Add Explosion to the Run Game
Injuries are a huge concern for Dobbins, who has played a total of nine games in the last two seasons, but he would be a great low-risk, high-reward addition, especially at a position where wear and tear accumulate faster than anywhere else.
Dobbins only has 234 carries, and a big chunk of them have been explosive, which is exactly what the Bengals are trying to find. Since Dobbins entered the league in 2020, 12.8% of his rushing attempts have been explosive (12+ yards).
J.K. Dobbins is baaaaccckkkk 💨pic.twitter.com/OBk6ffVaqe
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) December 11, 2022
That’s the second-highest rate among backs with at least 100 carries behind Miami’s De’Von Achane (15.5%).
Dobbins’ injury history will keep his price down, but if he can stay healthy, he could be one of the biggest bargains in this free agent class.
Sign Clyde Edwards-Helaire To Reunite With Joe Burrow
He’s not as explosive as Dobbins or Chase Brown, but Edwards-Helaire would be a nice insurance policy and an intriguing addition to what could be a three-headed monster in the backfield.
Adding one back in free agency might be enough to quell any unease about cutting Joe Mixon while signing both Dobbins and Edwards-Helaire would rubber-stamp the move.
Edwards-Helaire played with Burrow at LSU and was a big part of the national championship team. He won’t turn 25 until April, and in addition to his younger chronological age, he only has 441 carries’ worth of wear and tear on his body.
The Bengals could sign Dobbins and Edwards-Helaire for about half of what Mixon’s cap hit would be.
Re-Sign Tanner Hudson and Drew Sample
Both essentially are locks to be back. Hudson is a restricted free agent, meaning the Bengals can match any outside offer.
And Cincinnati values Sample more than anyone else will. We saw that last spring when the Bengals were able to bring him back on a one-year, $1.2 million deal.
KEEP READING: Bengals 2024 Free Agents — OT Jonah Williams, CB Chidobe Awuzie, DT DJ Reader Eyeing Open Market
Those two would give the Bengals a much-needed baseline before targeting — finally — a tight end in the NFL Draft. Cincinnati hasn’t drafted a tight end since taking Sample in the second round in 2019. You have to go back another four years to find the next tight end they took with a Day 1 or 2 pick (Tyler Kroft, third round).
Miss football? The 2024 NFL Draft is almost here, boss. Pro Football Network has you covered with everything from team draft needs to the Top 100 prospects available. Plus, fire up PFN’s Mock Draft Simulator to put yourself in the general manager’s seat and make all the calls!
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