Bengals 2025 Offseason Ranked Among League's Worst at Campaign's Midpoint

CINCINNATI — ESPN's Bill Barnwell did a midseason assessment of each NFL team's 2025 offseason moves, and the Bengals got some rough marks. He included Cincinnati in the NFL's second-lowest tier ahead of only Houston.

The Bengals sit at 3-4 after a win over Pittsburgh, but have the underlying metrics of a bottom-five team in the league. Picking Shemar Stewart and signing T.J. Slaton to fix the run defense have been flat-out misses so far.

"The Bengals made a series of bets this offseason to try to spark their defense," Barnwell wrote. "Those moves haven't worked yet. Faced with the possibility that many of their young defenders had failed to develop because of bad drafting, the organization chose to fire Lou Anarumo in the hopes that a fresh voice in Al Golden would unlock those players' talent. It's a lot easier to replace the defensive coordinator than a half-dozen contributors on defense. However, Anarumo has been excellent in Indianapolis. The Bengals, meanwhile, are 29th in EPA per play on the defensive side of the ball.

"They're 31st in EPA allowed against designed runs, which is what Slaton was signed to shore up this offseason after leading the league in run stop win rate for the Packers a year ago. Stewart, the team's first-round pick, was involved in a contract dispute for much of the offseason and has played just 88 snaps while missing three games. One of the few positives on defense has been Ossai, who has 19 pressures so far this season, which is good for 12th in the league."

There is still plenty of time to turn these narratives around as Stewart works to play his third game of the season this Sunday after a lengthy ankle injury.

All in all, though, the Bengals haven't fixed many of their major roster issues so far this season, and they are leaning on the offensive weaponry to keep boosting Joe Flacco's production as long as Joe Burrow is out.

They'll try to get to 4-4 this weekend as clear favorites over the 0-7 Jets.

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