According to Pro Football Focus, the Cincinnati Bengals‘ roster hasn’t improved since last year. In fact, it’s clearly gotten worse. In 2024, PFF had the Bengals as the 8th-ranked roster in the entire NFL. This year? The Bengals have fallen to No. 18.
The drop shouldn’t be shocking to fans in the 513 area code. Their big signings this offseason (Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins) were their own players, so it’s not like they added weapons there. And, other than the draft, they didn’t really add anyone of note. In fact, even the top players that they drafted aren’t even signed and in camps yet.
Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman of PFF kind of state the obvious, in that the Bengals’ big-three on offense are obviously their strong point and the putrid defense is markedly worse as we sit here today.
Bengals have PFF’s 18th-best roster in the NFL
According to Chadwick and Wasserman, it’s amazing that the Bengals’ passing game was so effective last year. The offensive line was awful, the running game was just so-so and Higgins missed five games.
Biggest strength in 2024: The trio of Burrow-Chase-Higgins
“Despite not receiving any help from the offensive line, the Bengals still fielded one of the league’s best passing games in 2024 thanks to quarterback Joe Burrow and his top-two receivers, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins,” Chadwick and Wasserman write. “Burrow finished the year as the most valuable player in the league, according to PFF WAR, while Chase led the league in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Higgins is on the shortlist for the best No. 2 wideout in the league and ranked sixth among wide receivers with an 88.0 PFF overall grade this past season.”
It’s really not fair to ask the trio to be superhuman again this year to make up for the rest of the team’s deficiencies, but Bengals’ ownership doesn’t really seem to care.
Biggest weakness in 2024: An underwhelming defense
Here we go. PFF actually has higher rankings than most for this defense, depending on how you’re grading. Fox Sports had them ranked 25th-overall in the league, so PFF might be being nice.
“Even with a quarterback playing at an MVP level and two star receivers, Cincinnati still failed to make the playoffs last year due to its defensive struggles,” Chadwick and Wasserman continue. “The Bengals ranked 18th in PFF run-defense grade, 19th in PFF coverage grade and 26th in PFF pass-rush grade, even with the league leader in sacks, Trey Hendrickson.”
Players to watch in 2025
The Bengals better hope that someone steps up on the offensive line, and PFF thinks that Amarius Mims can be that guy. He was a first-round pick in 2024 and it didn’t go well. Cincy desperately needs him to live up to his draft status if they are going to keep Burrow upright.
X-factor for 2025: T Amarius Mims
“About the only thing that wasn’t going well for Cincinnati’s offense last year was the offensive line,” the duo writes. “The Bengals had the second-lowest-graded offensive line in the league, finishing above only the Patriots. The unit remains mostly the same from 2024, and the player whom most are expecting to make a jump is right tackle Amarius Mims. The 2024 first-round pick mostly had a rookie season to forget, placing 67th among all tackles with a 57.8 PFF overall grade. If he doesn’t experience a sophomore breakout, Cincinnati’s offensive line could struggle mightily once again.”
The Bengals are surely banking on his improvement as well, because they didn’t make any splashes in free agency up front, and they used their top two draft picks on the defensive side of the ball.
One of those rookies is Shemar Stewart (not currently signed) from Texas A&M, whom the Bengals are banking on to help Trey Hendrickson (who is currently holding out for a big contract). See the problem here? The defense was already terrible and now Hendrickson is holding out and the guy drafted in the first-round isn’t even getting reps in OTAs.
Rookie to watch: EDGE Shemar Stewart
“The Bengals attempted to address their defensive woes in the draft by selecting Texas A&M edge defender Shemar Stewart with the No. 17 overall pick,” Chadwick and Wasserman write. “While the pass-rushing production isn’t there (4.5 career sacks), he’s a freak athlete who posted an 88.2 PFF run-defense grade as a junior. Following Sam Hubbard’s retirement and with Trey Hendrickson’s future in Cincinnati uncertain, Stewart will be counted on immediately.”
PFF’s overall assessment of this roster doesn’t paint a rosy picture. It looks like the Bengals will be relying on a dominant passing game while hoping the offensive line is some facsimile of competent and the defense is something better than leaky.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Cincinnati Bengals’ Roster Slips in PFF Rankings for 2025 appeared first on Heavy Sports.