Boye Mafe Ready To Attack 'Opportunity' With Cincinnati Bengals

CINCINNATI — Boye Mafe is one of the newest Bengals alongside fellow free-agent signee Bryan Cook. He introduced himself to the media on Thursday, fresh off signing the deal and winning a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks.

He's excited to get an expanded opportunity to thrive as a three-down player after playing around 615 snaps in each of the past two seasons. Mafe tallied 31 tackles and two sacks last season.

"The opportunity," Mafe said about why he wanted to play for Cincinnati. "I feel like coming here, talking to the coaches, you know, talking about what their plans for the future are, what they want to do and build here. And that's what excites me, you know, being somebody, to be a part of that building and part of seeing it grow. That's what excites me, that they have what they need. And it's one of those teams that people are going to know about soon."

Mafe has played as a rotational player, mostly on early downs, with the Seahawks. He started just four 2025 games and played only 50% of the snaps, but his ESPN pass rush win rate at edge ranked in the 86th percentile, and he posted another strong mark against the run (80th percentile in run stop win rate at edge).

"Put it all together," the 27-year-old said about his next step. "A lot of things, a lot of people question about me, like the production, and that's a big question. I understand that. But the thing is, the coaches saw the film. They saw what I could do on the field.

"They want to tap in and make sure that the pressure, weight, and all that turns into sacks, you know, and so with them, with me buying in and getting that chance to really dig into that and really get into the nitty gritty of what I need to do to improve my game."

Mafe should get a full runway to play closer to 1,000 snaps this fall than the 600 he was around the past couple of years. He posted a career-high nine sacks in 2023 on 808 snaps.

It would be a great problem for Cincinnati if they don't need him that often and can rely on a diverse package of edge rushers out of Shemar Stewart, Myles Murphy, and the rest of that group.

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