The Cincinnati Bengals have let two major defensive stars go over the last few seasons and based on their play elsewhere, it would appear the team got it wrong on both counts.
Jessie Bates went out and earned an All-Pro nod last year during his first season with the Atlanta Falcons, and this past Monday, he made the game-sealing interception in primetime.
DJ Reader was the other name. In his first game with the Detroit Lions over the weekend, he played more than 50 percent of the snaps and earned a run defense grade over 70 at PFF.
The problem here isn’t that former Bengals are excelling elsewhere — it’s that they are excelling while the Bengals struggle in those areas.
At safety, Dax Hill flopped last year and has since made a successful move to cornerback. But the team had to go sign Vonn Bell and Geno Stone, essentially on an emergency basis, to correct course.
And right now, injuries have ravaged the interior of the defensive line to the point the team is working out a 34-year-old veteran while just hoping for a viable depth option.
To make matters worse, some of the money justifications for letting Bates and Reader walk haven’t played out well. The Bengals haven’t paid Tee Higgins an extension and he’s expected to leave via free agency. And fans know all too well about the wild Ja’Marr Chase extension drama that has hung over the franchise all summer, too.
There is some validity to the idea that making sure Joe Burrow and Chase are paid is more important than anything else. But when the Bengals are once again failing to replace top-tier talent that leaves by missing on draft picks, it makes it a much tougher pill to swallow.
While things aren’t necessarily at losing Andrew Whitworth and Kevin Zeitler in the same offseason bad just yet, so far, the Bengals haven’t achieved the proper follow-up success in these areas to justify routinely letting proven talent walk.
JESSIE BATES III SEALS THE IMPROBABLE FALCONS WIN. #ATLvsPHI pic.twitter.com/ukPLS3LjT8
— NFL (@NFL) September 17, 2024
