ESPN's Bill Barnwell: Bengals Offensive Weapons 'Comfortably' Best in NFL

Cincinnati has a full stable of game-breaking talent to showcase in 2022.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Publish date:
Jul 21, 2022 8:07 AM EDT

In this story:

Cincinnati Bengals

CINCINNATI — ESPN's Bill Barnwell unveiled his annual NFL offensive weapon rankings, and Cincinnati "comfortably" came in first place. Cincinnati ranked 23rd on this list in 2020—and 13th last year—now there is no doubt which offense has the horses to overpower every team in the league.

Ja'Marr Chase is one of the obvious reasons why the Bengals have an elite group of weapons.

"'I'm always a little skeptical about the impact of rookies when I make these rankings,' I said to start last year's Bengals blurb, 'but it's not hard to be more optimistic about Ja'Marr Chase than the vast majority of other first-year wideouts.' Well, I undersold things," Barnwell admitted. "Chase was sensational during an instant classic of a rookie campaign, as a fling with the drops in training camp gave way to a 1,455-yard catch, 13-touchdown season. He averaged 11.5 yards per target, second in the league behind Samuel. Yes, he dropped eight passes. When you do what he does with his other 119 targets, you can drop a pass every other week."

In Barnwell's eyes, this wasn't much of a debate for the top weapons group among all 32 teams.

"In the end, I felt like the Bengals were comfortably No. 1 in these rankings," Barnwell said. "It's a massive leap for an organization that ranked 23rd two years ago. Of course, in successive drafts, they added a pair of star wide receivers in Higgins and Chase. Plenty of teams will emulate their plan to try to surround their young quarterback with skill-position talent, but it's not quite so simple, as the Eagles and Giants can tell you. The Bengals swung for the fences and landed two superstars in two seasons. The league's best set of offensive playmakers helped take them all the way from 2-14 to the Super Bowl."

Objectively speaking, the Bengals should be one of (if not the best) offenses in the NFL this fall. Joe Burrow is fresh off his first normal offseason, and all of his playmakers are in the middle of or entering their primes.

The rocketship is chock full of fuel, time to liftoff.

Make sure you bookmark All Bengals for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

You May Also Like:

Report: Bengals 'Working to Sell Naming Rights' to Paul Brown Stadium

Bengals Inducting Willie Anderson, Isaac Curtis Into Ring of Honor

Bengals Rank Sixth on ESPN's NFL Future Power Rankings

Ja'Marr Chase: Joe Burrow 'Always Asks me to Shop for him'

Dan Orlovsky: Ja'Marr Chase 'Needs to be in' Madden 23 Top-10 Wide Receivers

Madden 23 Ratings: Trey Hendrickson Lone Bengal Ranked Among Top-40 LBs/DEs

Tom Brady, Ja'Marr Chase React to Madden 23 Pass-Catcher Ratings

James Palmer: Jessie Bates 'Most Important' Bengal After Joe Burrow

Madden 23 Ratings: Ja'Marr Chase Narrowly Cracks Top-25 Among Pass-Catchers