The Bengals have spent five weeks showing enough to know there’s something here, but not enough to feel comfortable about any of it. The defense is better, even if it still has its rough patches. Offensively, the margin is razor-thin, and that leaves Joe Burrow carrying too much of the load just to keep the thing moving.
That’s why the middle of the season could end up being defined by a few unflashy names. Cincinnati has obvious holes to fill: a steadier ground game, a tight end who can do a little of everything, and a receiver who can help create separation in a hurry. The good news is the roster already has some possible answers.
Samaje Perine looks like the clearest candidate to take on a bigger role at running back. The argument is simple enough: he’s the more complete football player right now compared with Chase Brown.
Perine brings more experience, and he’s the sturdier runner, the kind who can squeeze out extra yards even when the picture isn’t clean. In a run game that doesn’t seem interested in getting too fancy, that matters.
Cincinnati keeps leaning on inside zone, duo and draw concepts, and Perine fits that between-the-tackles style better than Brown.
Brown can catch the ball, but that alone doesn’t really separate him from Perine. He isn’t a true home run threat, he isn’t forcing missed tackles at a high rate, and he isn’t punishing defenders with power. If Perine can shoulder the work, the Bengals should be treating him like RB1 once the season settles into its middle stretch.
Another player who could matter more is Dohnte Meyers. It’s hard to ignore how odd it is that an offense with Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Joe Burrow is grading so poorly in average wide receiver separation. Burrow’s 71.4% completion rate on those tight-window throws says plenty about how much he’s having to make happen on his own.
Meyers can help there. He’s mostly a slot receiver, but he can play on the boundary too, and that kind of flexibility gives Cincinnati more ways to move Chase around.
More importantly, it should help the offense generate a little more space. The Bengals haven’t made that shift yet, and that’s a head-scratcher.
Zac Taylor seems to believe he can’t operate from under center in 11 personnel, even though that setup worked well in 2021. It’s also the kind of structure Sean McVay used to revive the Rams, which makes the hesitation feel even harder to explain.
Instead, Cincinnati is using the highest rate of 12 personnel in the NFL. That doesn’t exactly scream efficiency.
Even if Mike Gesicki effectively turns that into 11 personnel at times, the basic point still stands: Meyers should be getting more chances.
Then there’s Erick All Jr., who might be the piece that makes some of these newer offensive ideas actually function. If the Bengals are going to keep living in 12 personnel, they can’t keep using Gesicki as a glorified slot receiver and Drew Sample as the pure inline tight end.
That setup makes everything too easy to read, and it pushes the offense into predictable run-pass tendencies. Once opponents can spot the tell, Burrow ends up dropping back and airing it out anyway.
All offers a different path. Yes, he had the fumble just out of bounds on the sideline in Week 5, and yes, Taylor let him hear it after the 15-yard penalty.
But All is an intense player, and he’s also a freak athlete who has finally gotten healthy after years of knee trouble. The Bengals still keep leaning on Sample more than they probably should, but the snap split between Sample and All in the win over the Dolphins was close.
That needs to continue.
Sample doesn’t bring much in the passing game, and he isn’t exactly overpowering people as a run blocker either. With Tanner Hudson out for the season, there’s a natural opening for All to play a much bigger role.
In Other News...
Bengals Get A Timely Break Before A Crucial AFC North Stretch
The Bengals get a little breathing room in the middle of a demanding early schedule, with a Week 6 bye giving the roster a chance to reset before the AFC North race tightens up. It is the kind of pause every team values, but especially one that knows how quickly the division can turn into a week-to-week grind.
Cincinnati comes out of the break with a trip to Baltimore on Oct. 25, a game that will immediately put the spotlight back on the Bengals in one of the NFLs toughest neighborhoods. With the rest of the regular-season slate already mapped out through Week 18, the bye simply adds another layer of importance to how they handle the stretch that follows. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals 2023 Draft Class Is Headed For A Tough Roster Call
The Bengals are staring at an early look at a familiar roster dilemma, with several members of their 2023 draft class moving toward free agency after the season. Jordan Battle, Chase Brown, Andrei Iosivas, Myles Murphy and DJ Turner II all give the front office something to weigh, because this is the stage of the cycle when good homegrown players start getting expensive and the team has to decide where to keep investing.
Turner stands out as the one the Bengals appear most motivated to protect, while the rest of the group could end up in the category of productive but replaceable if the price climbs too high. Cincinnati has never shied away from letting useful players walk when it believes it can redirect resources elsewhere, and this class could become the next test of how far that approach can stretch before the turnover starts to alter the depth chart. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Bye Week Just Set Up A Massive Ravens Showdown
The Bengals spent their Week 6 bye watching the rest of the AFC North move around them, with Cleveland temporarily sitting atop the division and the standings getting tighter by the day. Now Cincinnati comes back into the mix with a trip into one of the leagues most consequential divisional matchups waiting in Week 7, a game that already feels like it could shape the race before the middle of the season settles in.
Baltimore brings its own uncertainty into the meeting, with Lamar Jackson dealing with an ankle sprain, though the expectation is he will be on the field. For Cincinnati, that only adds to the intrigue of a matchup that matters far beyond one Sunday, because the outcome will carry real weight for both the division chase and the playoff picture. [Read more 🡒]