The Bengals just got a loud warning shot from inside the division.
Pittsburgh sent Joey Porter Jr. to the Dallas Cowboys after a messy offseason, and that move should have Cincinnati paying close attention. Dax Hill and DJ Turner are both heading into contract years, both are represented by Athletes First, and both now look a lot harder to keep if they push toward the kind of money top corners are chasing.
That agency connection matters. Bengals fans have already lived through this movie with Jessie Bates and David Mulugheta.
Cincinnati’s final offer to Bates reportedly came in at $16.9 million per year, while Bates landed in Atlanta on a four-year, $64 million deal with an annual average of $16 million. Same neighborhood, different finish.
The details were enough to send him elsewhere.
Now the Bengals are in a similar spot with Andrew Kessler and Andre Odom handling Turner and Hill. After the team couldn’t find common ground on extensions this offseason, the path forward already looked shaky. Porter’s exit in Pittsburgh only sharpens the picture for next year.
Hill’s situation is especially tricky. Cincinnati moved him back into the slot after making it clear he did not want that role, and that won’t exactly make negotiations easier.
It’s the same spot where Hill starred at Michigan before becoming a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. After a breakout, injury-shortened 2024 season on the boundary, he seemed to have found his place after spending his first two pro seasons at safety.
The Bengals’ depth issues forced their hand. Injuries to Jalen Davis and Ja’Sir Taylor left them with limited options, even with Brayln Lux sitting on the practice squad. Cincinnati updated its official depth chart with Hill in the slot and DJ Ivey starting on the outside, making the move official.
Still, that kind of positional shuffle is the sort of thing that comes back up when the money talks.
What Cincinnati is not going to do, though, is copy Pittsburgh and move one of these players before the season gets away from them. The Bengals won’t trade Hill or Turner this year. Both are on expiring deals, both are betting on themselves, and Cincinnati has shown again and again that it would rather ride things out than cash out early.
The Hendrickson situation says plenty. The Bengals had chances to trade Trey Hendrickson before he walked in free agency and could have at least taken back a compensatory pick. Instead, they waited until the situation had gone too far.
That’s the backdrop here. If Hill and Turner keep climbing the way they have, the Bengals may have to choose between them.
One could end up tagged, with the other likely headed out the door. Either way, Cincinnati may not get much back beyond a compensatory pick.
The Steelers’ move with Porter Jr. doesn’t settle the Bengals’ future. But it does make it harder to pretend the warning signs aren’t there.
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That matters because the Bengals have been searching for more efficiency in the parts of the offense where deception should matter most, especially in play-action. The question hanging over the position is whether Cincinnati is leaving some upside on the table by not getting All more involved, and whether a bigger role for him could help unlock a passing game that still feels like it has more room to grow. [Read more 🡒]