2025 Cincinnati Bengals Part 3: Can the Defense Get a Stop?

[Sea Ray]

The best he's ever been with us has been a C-minus for a season compared to other Centers in the league. That's not close to good enough.

His seasons have always been somewhere between D-plus to C-minus. He's consistently better than most of the other players on the O-Line because it's usually filled with guys who are F-minus to D+.

He's not better than Risner. I'd move Risner to LG. Risner is the best Lineman on the team right now. Would rather have him helping on the left side in pass-protect.

So you want to bench Fairchild? I thought he had a pretty good rookie season


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[Kingspoint]

So you want to bench Fairchild? I thought he had a pretty good rookie season


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If Lew proves worthy of justifying this move. The goal should be to win the Super Bowl and to put the five best Lineman Starting. Detroit has had nothing but top-tier talent all along their Offensive Line the last 10 seasons and nobody's job is safe no matter how good a season they had (and they have all always had better seasons than any of the players on our Line have ever had). I think Lew can be one of those five at some point this season.

[Boss-Hog]

So you want to bench Fairchild? I thought he had a pretty good rookie season


Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkNone of these proposed moves make any sense to me, particularly benching a second year player coming off a solid rookie year for a veteran in the last year of his deal to play a position he's never played here or in four+ years anywhere and has supposedly never been above a C- player with the Bengals. All of this to make room for a fourth round rookie coming off ACL surgery last October - I liked the Lew pick just fine, but I'm certainty not making plans to reshuffle the offensive line and bench a promising second year player just to accommodate him halfway through the season. I see this year as mostly a redshirt year for Lew with the expectation that he'll take over for Karras in 2027 and be available in the event of injury this season.

[Sea Ray]

Let's just hope Lew is the player KP says he is. I'd love to have that sort of "problem" on the O line. Chances are they'll need him anyway as we're bound to have someone get banged up somewhere in the middle

[Kingspoint]

This is the best interior line depth we've had in the Joe Burrow era.

They've attempted for years to improve the Center and interior positions, but for simply bad luck, it hasn't worked out. Same is true for the Defensive side with some high level of success here and there.

First time in a long time that both sides of the ball along the line have a chance to be league average or better with the best of their abilities being after they've had a few months of playing together. I seriously expect good things come Thanksgiving from both sides of the Line, and that will make this team formidable.

[Kingspoint]

From Hobson...


Lew and Parker are the classic brainy O-linemen, like last year's rookies Jalen Rivers and Dylan Fairchild, and captains Karras and Orlando Brown Jr. Lew went through his suburban Atlanta high school with a 4.0 GPA, and it sounds it when he talks about how his prep wrestling career has made it easier to pick up Bengals offensive line coach Scott Peters' strike system.

"Leverage," Lew said. "The teams I met with in the pre-draft process, they (Bengals) were one that had their own strike system. I'm a very black-and-white person when it comes to football and technique. With the strike system, you know exactly where the landmark is, you know exactly what you're trying to do."

Even before Lew stepped on the field Friday, he had already been coached by a Bengal.

Bengals Ring of Honor right tackle Willie Anderson returns to his alma mater of Auburn for some spring games, spring practices and regular-season games, often enough that he's a familiar figure to the offensive linemen. Even though Lew isn't playing tackle, he picked Anderson's brain on how to use his feet in pass protection. "The nuances," Lewe said. "For as long as he played the game at a high level, I was able to pick up a lot of stuff that I was able to work in practice. Anytime you had a question, he was right there."

https://www.bengals.com/news/jack-dingle-s-favorite-bengal-logan-wilson-hollywood-ceyair-wright-connor-lew-brian-parker-ii

- - - Updated - - -

Signees from Friday...

The Bengals today signed five selections from the 2026 NFL Draft — C Connor Lew, WR Colbie Young, OT Brian Parker II, TE Jack Endries and DT Landon Robinson. Cincinnati also signed 11 college free agents.

Lew (6-4, 310) was selected in the fourth round (128th overall) out of Auburn University. He played in 31 career games with 25 starts at center over three seasons (2023-25) with the Tigers.

Young (6-4, 218) also was a fourth-round pick (140th overall) out of the University of Georgia. He began his career at the University of Miami (Fla.) from 2022-23, then spent the '23-24 seasons with the Bulldogs. He totaled 116 career receptions for 1437 yards and 13 TDs.

Parker (6-5, 310) was a sixth-round pick (189th overall) out of Duke University. He played in 40 games with 33 starts for the Blue Devils, including 26 consecutive starts to close out his career. He earned second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors in each of his final two seasons, and in 2025 was named a third-team All-American by the Associated Press.

Endries (6-5, 245) was taken in the seventh round (221st overall) out of the University of Texas. He played his first two collegiate seasons (2023-24) at the University of California, then transferred to Texas for the '25 campaign. In 39 career games (all starts), he caught 124 passes for 1376 yards and seven TDs.

Robinson (6-0, 295) also was a seventh-round pick (226th) out of the U.S. Naval Academy. In 38 career games with 26 starts at Navy, he recorded 153 tackles, 18.5 TFLs, 14.5 sacks, two FFs, one FR and one blocked kick. He was named first-team All-American Athletic Conference in each of his final two seasons, and in 2025 collected AAC Defensive Player of the Year along with AP first-team All-America honors.

Five of the Bengals' seven selections in the 2026 NFL Draft have now been signed.

Here is a list of the college free agents signed today:

POSITION AND NAME; HEIGHT AND WEIGHT; COLLEGE; HOMETOWN

--G Liam Brown; 6-5, 307; Montana; Beaverton, Ore.

--HB Kentrel Bullock; 5-10, 204; South Alabama; Columbia, Miss.

--LB Jack Dingle; 6-4, 235; Cincinnati; Louisville, Ky.

--LB Eric Gentry; 6-7, 221; Southern California; Philadelphia, Pa.

--HB Jamal Haynes; 5-7, 195; Georgia Tech; Loganville, Ga.

--OT Christian Jones; 6-9, 345; San Diego State; Avila Beach, Calif.

--TE Josh Kattus; 6-4, 245; Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio

--OT Corey Robinson II; 6-5, 311; Arkansas; Roswell, Ga.

--WR Noah Thomas; 6-5, 203; Georgia; Pearland, Texas

--CB Ceyair Wright; 6-0, 185; Nebraska; Los Angeles, Calif.

[Danny Serafini]

If Lew proves worthy of justifying this move. The goal should be to win the Super Bowl and to put the five best Lineman Starting. Detroit has had nothing but top-tier talent all along their Offensive Line the last 10 seasons and nobody's job is safe no matter how good a season they had (and they have all always had better seasons than any of the players on our Line have ever had). I think Lew can be one of those five at some point this season.

If your goal is winning a Super Bowl, I'm not sure citing Detroit is a very helpful stance.

[Sea Ray]

If your goal is winning a Super Bowl, I'm not sure citing Detroit is a very helpful stance.

Detroit definitely had a Super Bowl caliber O line and offense in 2024. The O line wasn't all that great last year

[Kingspoint]

If your goal is winning a Super Bowl, I'm not sure citing Detroit is a very helpful stance.

I was citing their approach to building an Offensive Line. Apples and oranges. But, I always love it when soneone respinds with a statement that's eons distanxe from the subject on hand.

[Sea Ray]

Breaking: The Bengals are headed overseas! Expect an announcement from the team within the next hour… Joe Burrow and the guys will be headed to Madrid to take on the Falcons. It’ll be either week six or week nine… But it is a done deal. Watch @WLWT News 5 beginning at 4pm

https://x.com/MikeDardisWLWT/status/2054282686307373186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2054282686307373186%7Ctwgr% 5E6baea560a59974cfb6e5f7bdca6ca9adc3c368fa%7Ctwcon %5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum.go-bengals.com%2Findex.php%3Fapp%3Dcoremodule%3Dsyste mcontroller%3Dembedurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2Fi%2 Fstatus%2F2054282686307373186

[Sea Ray]

I hear the ladies are insane there


https://youtu.be/v8zGryHWZE0?si=oWCd9oGRwJqLAU9q

I bet KY Fried will appreciate this one...

[Boss-Hog]

We're over 1,000 posts here, so please start a new thread to continue the discussion.