The Cincinnati Bengals were ranked second in The Athletic’s version of post-free agency NFL power rankings by Bo Wulf.
Only Patrick Mahomes and the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs were ranked ahead of the Bengals, who also were ranked just ahead of the runner-up Philadelphia Eagles.
Here’s what Wulf had to say about Cincinnati:
Aside from Tom Brady, no starting quarterback got rid of the ball quicker than Joe Burrow’s average time to throw of 2.4 seconds in 2022. Part of that was the continued development of one of the league’s best quarterbacks, part was the design of protecting an improving but still questionable pass-protecting offensive line. As a result, Burrow’s downfield attempts (defined here as at least 30 air yards) dropped from 34 in 2021 to 16 in 2022. Enter Orlando Brown Jr., who landed in Cincinnati as a surprise to all. Now things are set up for Burrow to be just as dangerous downfield as in the quick passing game.
The Bengals were already one of the top passing offenses in the league, and the additions of Brown to protect Burrow from pressure and Irv Smith Jr. to be yet another weapon to throw to, at the very least, put them in the conversation for best offense in the league.
Defensively, they have lost Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell, but are addressing the secondary with the signing of safety Nick Scott and CB Sidney Jones.
Now that the month of the NFL draft is officially here, the Bengals are having about as good of an offseason as they could have so far.
