The Bengals don’t need all three of their second-year defenders to pop. They just need one.
That’s the simplest way to look at a defense that still has some real questions hanging over it, even after Cincinnati spent plenty of draft capital trying to patch things up. Shemar Stewart, Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter all enter Year 2 with something to prove, but the path to a major defensive upgrade may come down to one of them taking a real jump.
Stewart was the first big swing. Cincinnati took the Texas A&M defensive end 17th overall last year despite his modest college production - just 4.5 sacks in three seasons with the Aggies.
The bet was on upside, but the rookie year didn’t exactly calm anyone down. When Stewart was healthy enough to play, PFF ranked him as the literal worst edge defender in football among 119 qualifiers.
The Bengals doubled down on defense after that, adding Knight and Carter in the second and fourth rounds. Both started last season for the NFL’s worst run defense, and neither made much of an impact in coverage. That’s a rough starting point for a group that’s supposed to help lift the unit.
Still, there’s at least a case for one of these guys making a real Year 2 leap. The tricky part is figuring out which one.
Knight feels like the longest shot. He turns 26 this coming Tuesday, and the concerns are the same ones that showed up last year: trouble fitting the run, trouble setting the edge, trouble covering. He did look a little better late in the season, but that came against poor opponents, which doesn’t exactly move the needle.
Stewart is the upside play. He flashed in Week 1, got hurt in the next game, and never really recovered after that.
There’s a built-in excuse there, at least. The Bengals knew he was raw coming in, and the combination of that rawness plus not being fully healthy may have dragged him into a rookie-year spiral.
Even so, the road ahead isn’t easy. Cincinnati drafted his college teammate Cashius Howell in the second round this year, and Howell brings serious juice off the edge after posting 11.5 sacks last season and winning SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
Howell is also cross-training as an occasional off-ball linebacker. Stewart also has to fight Boye Mafe and Myles Murphy for snaps at defensive end.
That leaves Carter as the most realistic candidate to make the leap. It’s still a bit of a hope-and-prayer bet, but there are signs he’s more comfortable now.
Dan Hoard noted that Carter is noticeably more vocal at this stage than he was as a rookie, and Carter said, “Being the green dot, you have to be vocal,” said Carter. “It’s year two in the league and it’s year two in Al Golden’s system.
I have a year under my belt and I just feel so much more…”
If Carter is truly settling into the role the coaching staff wants from him at MIKE, that matters. The Bengals don’t have much behind him and Knight besides Oren Burks and Shaka Heyward, which is a thin safety net for a position this important. The bigger question is whether Cincinnati is comfortable rolling with Carter as the answer, or whether it needs to look elsewhere - maybe to a veteran like Bobby Wagner, or even a trade for Miami Dolphins All-Pro Jordyn Brooks.
For now, Carter looks like the likeliest bet to be the one who changes the picture. If the Bengals are sticking with him anyway, it’s because they believe that leap is coming.
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