By all accounts, Zac Taylor is a phenomenal guy that drinks a good amount of Starbucks coffee. That’s good, because his first season in Cincinnati was less than stellar. It wasn’t a Steve Wilkes level of disaster, but it was a struggle nonetheless.

The Bengals finished 29th in offensive DVOA and 30th in defensive DVOA. (We use DVOA a lot, as it’s the best analytical tool for evaluating the NFL. You can find more info and explanations here.) The silver lining? The Bengals did manage to finish first in Special Teams rankings. Things got so bad by the river that Taylor and company benched franchise stalwart Andy Dalton for the pedestrian Ryan Finley after the team’s bye week, only to re-insert Dalton as the starter three weeks later. Honestly, this franchise has yet to recover from the debacle that was the 2015 AFC Wildcard playoff game, in which Cincinnati absolutely collapsed late in what should have been their first postseason win in a quarter century.

This roster is laden with holes, most notably at signal caller. The Bengals should be able to land a face of the franchise in May but making this a competitive team again will likely take another offseason or two.

Offense

It’s time to move on from Andy Dalton. Cincinnati has been stuck in QB purgatory for years, and each offseason, has decided to kick the can down the road. Finding an adequate signal caller in this league is not an easy task, but the version of the Bengals with Dalton at QB peaked in 2015. It’s time to move on and find a new girl to dance with. There’s a certain kid from Ohio that should be the first guy off the board at the NFL Draft.

Unfortunately, this team’s weaknesses go much further than QB. Joe Mixon, though he shouldn’t be in the NFL, is a legitimate lead back that can play every single down. Few teams still utilize the work horse running back, partly because so few guys can stay on healthy in such a role and/or run between the tackles, catch passes, and step up in pass protection. Mixon fits all of those categories.

A relative bright spot on the offense is the WR position, where Tyler Boyd emerged as a dynamic playmaker. Though you’d like to see him produce more TD’s (he caught only five last season while hauling in 90 catches) he’s a base line WR1 and an excellent WR2. Auden Tate, Alex Ericson and John Ross III each added seasons of at least 500 receiving yards, and Ross did it only eight games. Heading into year three, it’s imperative Ross make another huge leap to justify his top draft selection.

There’s an elephant in the room in the form of 2011 4th overall pick A.J. Green. Green will enter his age 32 season this year, but because of his elite route running, superior ability to separate from defenders, and sure-fire hands, he still has at least two years left off WR1 production, and several more as a serviceable starter if he chooses. The challenge with Green the past few years has been his inability to stay healthy. He didn’t play a single regular season snap in 2019, and only managed to suit for nine games in 2018. His last full 16 game season came in 2017. Green is an UFA, and while the Bengals may be tempted to franchise tag him, it’s best to allow a guy that has been such a loyal team player to hit the open market and have a chance to contend. At the least, even if the Bengals to franchise tag Green, a trade to a budding contender should follow. The Niners, Bears, Colts, and Raiders could all be landing spots.

As it concerns the most important positional group on the offense, the Bengals are in bad shape. Their offensive line is arguably one of the worst in all of football, and surely ranking the bottom five by any reasonable metric used. Last year’s first round pick Jonah Williams is an immediate upgrade over anyone that started for them last season. If nothing else, Cincy has to either move on from or find depth in front of guards Michael Jordan and Billy Price. Williams should slot in as a quality LT to protect Joe Burrow’s blind spot. The team should look to address the offensive line early in rounds 2 and 3.

Defense

To say this entire unit needs to be upgraded would be a severe understatement. Cincy ranked 28th in both run and pass defense. Some teams manage to be pedestrian in one category at the expense of the other. (For example, the Giants ranked a dreadful 31st in pass defense but an impressive 7th in rush defense.) That’s the Bengals. When it comes to defense, they’re just bad.

The lone bright spot is the veteran stalwart along the defensive line in Geno Atkins. Atkins is paired with Andrew Billings and flanked by Carlos Dunlap and Sam Hubbard. For all his greatness, Atkins graded out at only 77.6 at PFF last season and was the team’s highest rated player. That should tell you all you need to know about the talent on the defensive front.

Dre Kirkpartrick was highly a touted prospect when coming into the league, but those days have passed. Darqueze Dennard has the talent to be a top end CB2, and the surprise emergence of Darius Phillips means the Bengals could put out a decent corner pairing. Regardless, as of right now, Cincy lacks a high-level starter on the outside and any reasonably depth in the secondary after Phillips and Dennard.

Top Pick: QB Joe Burrow, LSU

The Bengals are drafting number one overall for a reason. They’re a bad football team with a lot of holes, and while you can talk yourself into the consensus number one overall player in Chase Young, LSU phenom Joe Burrow makes too much sense. There are concerns about Burrow’s arm strength, and his oh-so-tiny hands, but they’re for not. Burrow has tape, and my goodness, that tape against SEC defenses is hard to ignore.

Not only does Burrow fit a need for the Bengals on the field, but he’s the right level of cocky and reserved that a franchise used to be a laughingstock needs to help kick things back into high gear. Burrow understands the people of Ohio and knows what it takes to endure himself to the community. The Bengals need that as much as anything else right now.

Way-too-Early Projection : Last in AFC North

The jury is still out on Zac Taylor as a head coach, though I believe he deserved a second year. The key to improvement in year two is upgrading a woefully bad offensive line and improving at each level of the defensive unit. While I think the Bengals will upgrade at QB and on the offensive line in the draft, the nature of having so many holes is that you can’t possibly fill them all in one offseason. This is, at the least, a two-year project to get back to respectability.

Burrow and the Bengals Make a Beautiful Bunch

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