Al Golden Highlights Bengals Defensive Growth, Desire To Add From Outside

CINCINNATI — It was a tale of two halves for Al Golden's defense last season. Unfortunately, the first half was so historically bad on that side of the ball that Cincinnati couldn't recover, but the second-year Bengals coordinator is excited about the growth he saw in the final nine weeks.

Pair that with a head start to evaluate outside talent, and you get the possible makings of a big leap this fall.

"Really excited about the nucleus we have coming back," golden said to local media on Wednesday. "It's not just a fresh start. You know what I mean in terms of a man, you're not starting from ground zero. No, there are pieces there, a healthy Dax (Hill) at the end of last year, really, if you look at his last eight, nine games when he was healthy, and really starting to transition better. His change of direction got better, his agility got better, and his man coverage got better.

"I'm excited about that. DJ (Turner II) came on for us. You know, we talked about the linebackers. Myles Murphy really improved. So no, I'm excited. I feel like we can add pieces to it. We can add the leadership. They just have to match our culture."

Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden looks on from the sideline in the second quarter of the NFL Week 1 game between the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Cincinnati went from the worst defense in the league to right around league average in general from Week 10 through the end of the season.

They ranked 17th in EPA/play allowed in that stretch and 14th in success rate allowed.

"A lot of things settled in and improved, especially when Trey (Hendrickson) wasn't coming back, when Logan (Wilson) wasn't available, when Cam Taylor-Britt wasn't coming back, and we had to plot a new course, some guys emerged, and obviously guys settled in at linebacker," Golden said.

Demtrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter got more comfortable down the stretch of last season, but they didn't turn into All-Pro players by any means.

Golden is not allergic to one or multiple outside additions in the middle of the defense. Oren Burks didn't provide much depth after signing with Cincinnati last year.

"We've got to get deeper," Golden said about that position. "Obviously, having somebody with a combo presence, I would prefer not to ask Demetrius to play on the line of scrimmage as much as we did, and there will be times when he does do that. But I would prefer to add another piece, and have that veteran wisdom and all those things. And again, we're looking for for formidable position groups, which combined will make us better as a unit. We're trying to improve a lot of different positions right now. That's one of them."

Cincinnati has two main highways to chase down depth on for every level of the defense over the next two months: Free agency and the draft.

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch the video below as part of our in-depth coverage of the team. Prefer to listen? Check out Cincinnati Bengals Talk on Apple, Spotify, and Amazon Podcasts.

Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, insight, film breakdowns, and so much more!

Also, check out the podcast, Locked On Bengals, wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple: bit.ly/BengalsApple

Spotify: bit.ly/BengalsSpotify

YouTube: bit.ly/LOBengalsYouTube

-----

Follow us on X: @BengalsTalkSI

Like Our Facebook Page

Follow on TikTok