It's a New Dey: Bengals Turnover Roster in Hopes of Building Winner

The Bengals have signed five veterans in free agency

Author:
Nicole Zembrodt
Publish date:
Mar 20, 2021 11:00 AM EDT

The inevitable is happening. It’s a ‘New Dey’ for the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium. The team is adding new faces and moving on from some of their veteran players, in hopes of turning the franchise around.

“I think it’s relatively common,” Zac Taylor said when asked about roster turnover. “If you look at rosters over three years, there’s a higher degree of turnover than people realize.”

The faces from the Marvin Lewis era are dwindling in Cincinnati. Only 14 players from the 2018 roster remain on the current roster:

Jessie Bates III
Giovani Bernard
Tyler Boyd
Clark Harris
Trey Hopkins
Sam Hubbard
Joe Mixon
Darius Phillips
Billy Price
Mason Schreck
Auden Tate
Josh Tupou
C.J. Uzomah
Brandon Wilson

The transition from Lewis to Taylor has not been easy. The team is 6-25-1 over the past two seasons. Veterans have voiced their frustrations and the team’s culture has been in question.

Divorces from Bengal greats like Andy Dalton, A.J. Green, Carlos Dunlap, and Geno Atkins have occurred in Taylor’s new era, but the head coach is encouraged by the group he has in the building and believes the younger roster will shine in 2021.

Joe Burrow, Sam Hubbard, Jessie Bates III have already stepped up in the early stages of free agency to recruit veteran players.

“I know players see what we’ve [Bengals] got going on here,” Taylor said. “We’ve got some great, young pieces particularly. Guys that people want to play with. They can see that we’ve had some struggles no doubt about it, but the future is very bright. There’s a ton of potential on this team. I know people are going to want to be a part of this.”

Cincinnati has signed Trey Hendrickson, Chidobe Awuzie, Mike Hilton, Larry Ogunjobe and Riley Reiff in free agency. They also re-signed Brandon Wilson, Mike Thomas, Clark Harris, Samaje Perine and Tony Brown.

“Over these [past] four years, playing against these guys, I’ve seen the type of players they have and what they were building,” Hilton said on Friday. “Once they brought in Joe to be the franchise guy and show what he’s capable of that definitely attracted me here. I’m excited to be here and get the train rolling.”

Reiff said he could feel the direction the team was heading after his visit to Paul Brown Stadium. He bonded with Burrow, Hubbard, the other free agent additions and the coaching staff at dinner on Thursday night.

“I want to block for that guy [Burrow],” Reiff said. “Just the way he conducts himself, down to earth, Cincinnati type guy, tough, Midwestern, blue collar, comes to work.”

The Bengals are adding talent and spending money in the process. They've committed around $118 million to unrestricted free agents so far this offseason after committing $130 million last offseason.

Taylor is entering his third season with the Bengals. He is on the hot seat and needs to succeed in 2021. It's still early in the offseason, but the organization appears to be making the right moves. Taylor will have to maximize the young talent on the roster if the Bengals are going to turn things around.

Noteable players who have departed since Taylor was hired: