Pair of Players Named Bengals Best, Worst 2025 Free-Agent Signings

CINCINNATI — Pro Football Focus writer Bradley Locker broke down the best and worst 2025 free-agent signings by NFL teams this week, and two players clearly stood out for the Bengals.

Guard Dalton Risner took the best signing crown for the team after being one of their final additions to the roster in August. He posted his best NFL season with the Bengals.

"Risner signed only a one-year deal but ultimately played 767 snaps for Cincinnati across both left and right guard," Locker wrote. "The former Viking was especially strong in pass protection, allowing only two sacks and 17 pressures across 503 pass-blocking snaps, helping the Bengals’ offensive line trend in the right direction."

Fans won't be shocked to see linebacker Oren Burks take the worst signing baton. He was a ghost in many facets across the 2025 season.

"The Bengals made several defensive additions that didn’t materialize, with Burks arguably being the worst in that group. The former Packer inked a two-year deal but saw only 340 snaps, which yielded a 30.2 overall PFF grade — the lowest at the position," Locker wrote.

Linebacker is the biggest low-hanging fruit for Cincinnati to pick from in free agency and the draft over the next few months. Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. may end up the starters again this fall, but they had two of the worst rookie seasons of any defenders selected last April, and depth seems needed to push them to keep improving.

Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin discussed the situation earlier this month.

"Linebacker was a need for us," Tobin said about last offseason. "And to be quite honest, what we saw in our young guys, they were starting to eat into the playing time of the veterans we had. And Al (Golden) had a lot of confidence in those young guys. The growing pains we experienced this year will pay off because we saw them firsthand. It's not always fun while they're happening, but those two linebackers, when they first started playing to when they finished the season versus Cleveland out here, are night and day, and you can see exactly what the vision is for those two guys.

"We're always talking to Al about what he wants to be. The great thing about Al is that he can be a lot of different things based on what he has. You know, that's what the best coaches do. That's what he did at Notre Dame. 'Here's what I have, so here's what I'm going to do to maximize what I have, and then here's what I'd like to be.' And it's our job to try to build towards that vision."

Check out the full breakdown from PFF here.

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