Cincinnati’s training camp is almost here, and the Bengals have already checked off a couple of the big boxes that matter most. Joe Burrow finally has real protection on the edge, with Orlando Brown Jr. and 2024 first-round pick Amarius Mims shaping up as one of the league’s better tackle pairings. Burrow is also leaning into the pressure that comes with Super Bowl expectations, and he clearly believes this roster can handle it.
But the work isn’t done. Depth behind Brown and Mims remains a concern, and the linebacker spot still comes with questions about whether Barrett Carter or Demetrius Knight Jr. can make a Year 2 leap. That leaves Cincinnati in a familiar spot: looking for low-cost ways to patch up two spots that could still use insurance.
One possible answer at linebacker is Arizona’s Owen Pappoe. He hasn’t played much over his three seasons with the Cardinals, which naturally raises the question of why he’d be on Cincinnati’s radar at all.
The answer starts with Arizona’s situation. The Cardinals are in the middle of a messy rebuild, with a new coaching staff in place and a linebacker group that already includes Mack Wilson, Cody Simon, and Jack Gibbens.
Any of those three could start for the Bengals.
Pappoe, meanwhile, is entering the final year of his rookie deal, and if Arizona views him mostly as a special teams player, it could make sense to move him for a draft asset. The appeal is obvious: he brings rare explosiveness.
His Relative Athletic Score backs that up, and his speed showed up in coverage at Auburn, where he posted a 77.0 passer rating allowed in 2023. He also missed only 6.9% of his tackles in his final college season.
At 6'0", 230 pounds, Pappoe isn’t built like a classic thumper. But the point is that he plays like a missile.
Cincinnati’s current linebackers were exposed in coverage last year and had trouble tackling, though the expectation is that both should be better with another year in the system and with players like Dexter Lawrence in front of them. Even so, Pappoe would give the Bengals a real contingency plan and a possible challenger for a starting job.
The other obvious trade target is on the offensive line, where the swing tackle picture looks shaky. Right now, the names in that mix are Cody Ford, Andrew Coker, and Javon Foster.
That’s not exactly a group that inspires confidence. Ford is more of a guard, Coker has lived on the practice squad, and Foster - a 2024 fourth-round pick by Jacksonville - was cut loose by the Jaguars’ new regime during final roster cuts.
If Foster is the best of the bunch, that tells you plenty.
That’s why the Bengals should at least kick the tires on Atlanta’s Jack Nelson, a former Wisconsin left tackle. The Falcons just added Ohio State tackle Ethan Onianwa and traded for former Chiefs third-rounder Wanya Morris, while Jake Matthews and Jawaan Taylor are already locked in as starters. That kind of roster math makes Nelson a plausible trade candidate.
And there’s something to like in the profile. Nelson posted PFF pass-blocking grades of 83.1, 76.0, and 82.2 across his three seasons as Wisconsin’s starting left tackle. For a team that needs a better answer behind its top two tackles, that’s enough to justify a look, even if the price is just a probable 2027 seventh-round pick.
In Other News...
McKinnley Jackson Is Suddenly Forcing A Bengals Camp Decision
McKinnley Jackson arrived in Cincinnati as a third-round pick with a clear path to carving out a role, but the Bengals recent additions have made the interior defensive line one of the more interesting camp battles on the roster. T.J. Slaton and Dexter Lawrence changed the math up front, and suddenly Jackson is no longer just a developmental name in the background. He is right in the middle of a decision the Bengals have to make about how they want to build the back end of that rotation.
Jackson still has a case to stick because the Bengals need bodies who can handle the dirty work at nose tackle, and his profile gives him a chance to compete for meaningful snaps rather than just survive cut-down day. The question now is whether the team sees enough in him to keep him in that backup mix over a veteran option, especially with roster construction and salary considerations both part of the equation. For a player who was easy to leave off early projections, that is a pretty sudden turn. [Read more 🡒]
Tee Higgins May Have Earned His Own Bengals Touchdown Call
JaMarr Chase already has the kind of touchdown call players dream about, with Tony Romos Chase is on the case becoming part of the Bengals weekly soundtrack. Now Tee Higgins may be next in line for his own signature moment, with the conversation sparked by the upcoming Coyote vs. Acme movie and a trailer bit that could lend itself to a fitting line for the receiver whenever he finds the end zone.
Higgins has done enough on the field to make the idea feel less like a gimmick and more like a natural next step. He has 21 touchdown catches over the last two seasons and tied for second in the league with 11 last year, which is the kind of production that tends to earn a player his own call. The only question is whether announcers will actually run with the new phrase when Higgins scores again. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Fans Have New Proof Who Dey Belongs Among The NFL's Best
For Bengals fans, there is at least a little extra validation to hang onto after Sports Illustrated placed the teams Who Dey chant sixth on its Top 10 NFL stadium chants list. The ranking put Cincinnati ahead of several better-known fan bases, including those in Miami, Green Bay, Chicago and Buffalo, and it adds another bit of national recognition to a phrase that has been part of the teams identity for decades.
Who Dey has been around since 1981, with roots in local commercials and the old Riverfront Stadium scene, where beer vendor calls helped shape the sound that eventually stuck. The chant has also long been part of a back-and-forth with Saints fans over how similar it is to Who Dat and which one came first, which only makes any fresh ranking feel a little more like another round in a debate that never really goes away. [Read more 🡒]