Bengals’ Biggest Win and Biggest Mistake of 2026 Offseason

ESPN's Bill Barnwell dropped his best and worst offseason moves for all 16 AFC teams this week. Cincinnati received high marks for the Bryan Cook signing, but he feels the polarizing trade for Dexter Lawrence was their worst move.

Trading a top-10 pick for a veteran player has happened just two other times in the past 25 years (Broncos dealing for Russell Wilson and Raiders trading for Randy Moss). Neither of the previous scenarios worked out very well.

"I'm still blown away that a team traded a known top-10 pick for a veteran for only the third time in the past 25 years, after the Raiders did it for Randy Moss and the Broncos did it for Russell Wilson," Barnwell wrote. "The Bengals didn't have to do as much financially to appease Lawrence as I would have expected at the time of the deal, which helps. And if they get the version of Lawrence they're hoping -- an elite nose tackle who can control two gaps and get after the passer more than the vast majority of 0-technique linemen -- they'll be happy with the trade. However, I'm concerned that Lawrence is coming off his worst season as a pro, part of a defense that struggled against the run in New York. And though that can partially be chalked up to an elbow injury, Lawrence's 2024 season was ended by that same elbow issue.

"Given how much they're spending on their big three on offense (Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins) and a handful of other players (Cook, Boye Mafe, Orlando Brown Jr., and breakout cornerback DJ Turner II when he signs an extension), the Bengals need cost-controlled talent to make their roster construction work. Giving up the No. 10 pick to get a proven quantity like Lawrence feels like a win for Bengals fans who are sick of seeing the team whiff on first-round picks. But is it enough to propel the Bengals forward into Super Bowl contention? And if Lawrence isn't as known a quantity as it seems, this deal could be disastrous for Cincinnati."

Skepticism surrounding Lawrence is fair, but all signs point to him thriving in Cincinnati. He's been fully locked into the offseason program and seems happier than ever to be reunited with his buddy B.J. Hill.

Lawrence is coming off arguably his "worst" NFL season, but that's all relative. The 28-year-old still posted a 75.6 Pro Football Focus grade on 754 snaps, with 34 quarterback pressures. That type of production would be massive for a Cincinnati team that had Hill as its only DT to pass 20 pressures in 2025.

Cooking Up Tackles

Bengals safety Bryan Cook speaks to the media during a press conference at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Thursday, March 12, 2026. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Cook got plenty of love as a massive positional upgrade for Cincinnati.

"This might have been as much about who the Bengals replaced and who they brought in," Barnwell noted. "Geno Stone became the emblem of what had gone wrong for the Bengals' defense. After the Bengals struggled to replace star safety Jessie Bates III, who left for the Falcons in free agency, Stone was brought in as a veteran stopgap. With the Bengals committing so much money to offense, though, they couldn't make a more meaningful addition -- and so they had to hope that Stone would be a viable replacement for a player who was making significantly more money in Atlanta.

"Stone wasn't able to be that player, and he was conspicuously a problem in open space. Stone had a 15.6% missed tackle rate in 2024 and then upped that to 20% in 2025, the sixth-worst mark in the league among NFL regulars. The Bengals as a team missed 170 tackles, 39 more than any other defense in 2025. Cook doesn't have Bates' instincts or playmaking ability, but one thing he can do is tackle. He had a 7% missed tackle rate during his time with Kansas City, including a 4.5% rate in 2025. Cook is not going to singlehandedly fix all of the problems that vexed the Bengals a year ago, but just having a more reliable last line of defense would be a huge step forward for Al Golden's unit. No team gave up more gains of 20 or more yards than the Bengals, who gave up 79 such plays last season."

Cook should do wonders to help turn around those brutal tackling marks for the Bengals across much of the past three seasons.

Check out the full piece from Barnwell here.

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