The Bengals are heading into camp with a few new names in the mix, but one of the most interesting breakout bets on the roster is already an old familiar one: Erick All Jr.
All’s rookie season was short on availability, but it was long on trust. That matters in Cincinnati, where coach Zac Taylor clearly sees more than just another tight end body.
“With the word physical in the dictionary is a picture of Erick All, trying to put his face through somebody’s soul.” Even with the injury history hanging over him, All remains in the conversation to start.
He outsnapped incumbent Mike Gesicki in five of the nine games he played as a rookie, and he gives the Bengals something they’ve wanted more of in the run game: real blocking help. If he stays healthy, the expectation is that he leads the tight end room in snaps and creates a few splash plays along the way.
On the other side of the ball, the Bengals’ defensive tackle room is getting a closer look as training camp approaches. The roster has seen plenty of additions up front, but there’s still an incumbent in the mix who could work his way into the rotation and even help at the second level of the defense. He was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles, and the mention of Howie Roseman comes with the kind of nod that says plenty on its own: the Eagles GM has a pretty phenomenal track record of evaluating college talent.
There’s also a broader shift happening in Cincinnati’s approach this offseason. The team has been willing to break from its usual habits when the right players are available, and that showed up in a major way with Dexter Lawrence, who arrived via trade and contract at age 28, and Jonathan Allen, who joined in free agency at 31. That kind of investment says the Bengals are done treating certain rules as fixed.
And while Joe Burrow didn’t get through the 2025 season healthy, he still did enough to keep his standing among the league’s best intact. Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus ranked all 32 starters this week and kept Burrow at No. 2 overall, the same spot he held in PFF’s 2025 ranking.
In Other News...
Bengals May Have Found A Defensive Wild Card They Desperately Need
The Bengals went looking for help in the kind of place teams often do when a defense needs more juice, and Antwaun Powell-Ryland is at least giving them a reason to pay attention. The former Eagles draft pick landed in Cincinnati on a reserve/futures deal after the 2024 season, and with the linebacker room still viewed as an area that needs reinforcement, he has a chance to work his way into the conversation as more than just a camp body.
Powell-Rylands appeal is tied to the pass rush he showed in college, where he piled up disruptive production and finished with a strong final season. Cincinnati is exploring him as a linebacker, which adds another layer to his path, and the question now is whether he can carve out a role in the rotation or follow a tougher road toward the roster. For a player trying to stick, the next stretch could decide whether this becomes a real opening or just another short stop. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Fans Can Only Smile At Clevelands Latest Camp Mess
With Joe Burrow healthy and the Bengals roster looking better around him, Cincinnati has every reason to feel good about where it stands heading toward 2026. The bigger picture for the division still includes a Browns team trying to sort out its own quarterback future, and from a Bengals perspective, that matters just as much as anything happening in their own building.
Clevelands camp has turned into another reminder of how unsettled that position remains, with the battle between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders still unresolved as practices move on. Reports have Sanders making real progress in pocket presence and reading the field, which only adds another layer to a situation that already feels fluid, and it leaves the Browns with more questions than answers at the spot that matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Already Face A Secondary Decision Fans Were Dreading
The Bengals offseason planning already has a familiar kind of tension attached to it, with executive vice president Katie Blackburn acknowledging the difficulty of keeping the roster intact while the salary cap keeps pushing every decision into sharper focus. In particular, Cincinnati is trying to navigate a secondary situation that has become one of the more delicate parts of the roster conversation, especially with the team needing to balance present value against future flexibility.
Daxton Hill and DJ Turner are both central to that conversation, and the timing only makes it trickier. Hill is tied to a fifth-year option, while Turner is entering the final year of his deal, leaving the Bengals with a decision that goes beyond simple talent evaluation and into the realities of how much they can commit without boxing themselves in elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]