NFL Insider Points to Possible Alignment Tweaks for Bengals Under New Defensive Coordinator Al Golden

CINCINNATI – In his most recent article on SI.com, NFL insider Albert Breer included a couple of notes about the Cincinnati Bengals while listing the latest things he’s hearing ahead of Thursday’s NFL Draft.

One was that you can expect to see the Bengals defense run more 3-4 fronts, which is surprising given the lack of experienced linebackers the team currently has on the roster.

The Bengals signed linebacker Oren Burks in free agency, but he has started just 17 of the 108 games he’s played in his seven-season career.

Although Burks did start three of the Eagles’ four postseason games last year, including Super Bowl LIX, so the Bengals could slide him into that role if they aren’t able to acquire a starting linebacker in the draft.

Germaine Pratt is still on the roster, but the Bengals granted his request to seek a trade earlier this offseason. A deal still could occur during the draft.

“We'll see how it goes,” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said during his Monday news conference. “He requested a trade. We've looked into that a little bit, and we are where we are. But I don't have anything to announce on that right now.”

If there isn’t a trade, the team likely will cut Pratt if it drafts a starting-caliber linebacker. And possibly even if it doesn’t.

Another reason an increase in 3-4 fronts would be surprising is that the team signed TJ Slaton to a two-year, $15.1 million deal and re-signed B.J. Hill to a three-year, $33 million contract.

Those two are expected to start and handle the bulk of the snaps, with 2024 draft picks Kris Jenkins and McKinnley Jackson playing rotational roles.

As far as the increase in man coverage, that’s something the Bengals only did 24.9 percent of the time in 2024.

That ranked 19th in the league.

Cornerbacks Dax Hill and DJ Turner II were playing well before suffering season-ending injuries – Hill in Week 5, Turner in Week 11 – and utilizing their speed and athleticism to play more man would make sense.

Turner was Pro Football Focus’ No. 18 graded corner in man coverage last season (minimum 300 snaps).

Rookie Josh Newton, who could be in line to replace Mike Hilton, was No. 14. But Hill could be the more likely Hilton replacement after he played the majority of his college snaps in the slot.

That would put Cam Taylor-Britt on the opposite corner from Turner.