Ian Hartitz identifies the 2025 NFL Draft and offseason team needs for the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals entered 2024 with the same Super Bowl-or-bust expectations that have existed during every season of the Joe Burrow-Ja'Marr Chase era. Unfortunately, the "bust" scenario came to fruition after the team failed to dig itself out of a 1-4 hole to start the season.

Clearly, plenty of talent is still here: Cincy ripped off five straight Ws to end the season for a reason. However, this porous defense let the team down time and time again, with the Bengals somehow losing four separate games despite scoring 33+ points—the most in a single season in NFL history.

Nobody had more total points scored and allowed than the Bengals (906) last season; this was arguably the most entertaining team to watch in the league … for anyone other than, you know, their fans. Here's to hoping the front office does what's necessary to keep the stars wearing orange and black ahead of 2025 and beyond.

Today we'll recap some of the good and bad of 2024 before getting into potential offseason injuries to monitor as well as team needs ahead of the 2025 offseason.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

CINCINNATI BENGALS 2024 RECAP

  • Record: 9-8 (8.5 preseason win total)
  • Points per game: 27.8 (6th)
  • EPA per dropback: +0.193 (6th)
  • EPA per rush: -0.081 (19th)
  • Points per game allowed: 25.5 (25th)
  • Leading passer: Joe Burrow (4,918 pass yards, 43 TD, 9 INT)
  • Leading rusher: Chase Brown (229 carries, 990 yards, 7 TD)
  • Leading receiver: Ja'Marr Chase (127 receptions, 1,708 yards, 17 TD)

Biggest surprise: RB Chase Brown

Brown had a rather meh 39% snap rate and worked as fantasy's RB33 in PPR points per game (11) in Weeks 1-8 before Zack Moss was sidelined with a season-ending neck injury. But after? Brown played on an elite 85% of the offense's snaps and averaged 20.9 PPR points per game—the fourth-highest mark among all RBs.

It's hard to overstate just how heavy of a role Brown was featured in down the stretch. Overall, he racked up 20+ touches in all but one of his final eight games. Literally only Saquon Barkley (25.7) racked up more touches per game than the Bengals' second-year RB (23.6) during Weeks 9-17 last season.

Now, the efficiency wasn't out of this world. Brown ranked 21st in rush yards over expected per carry (+0.3) and just 22nd in explosive rush rate (7.4%). The latter metric was particularly surprising given his ridiculous top-end speed. Still, these sorts of efficiency metrics are hard to maintain with a true workhorse role; kudos to Brown for proving capable of working across all three downs as well as for perhaps cementing himself as the team's lead back of the present and future.

Biggest disappointment: WR Jermaine Burton

Burton fell to the 80th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft seemingly due to off-field red flags. Still, the fit was seemingly perfect, as the Alabama/Georgia product had a chance to start from Day 1 after longtime slot maven Tyler Boyd took his talents to Tennessee in free agency.

Some preseason flashes and a big 47-yard catch in Week 2 against the Chiefs had Burton looking like a potential steal, but unfortunately he went on to catch only three more passes the rest of the season. There was a push in November to make Burton a bigger part of the offense, but the results simply weren't there, and the rookie's debut campaign was instead defined by:

  • Getting benched after no showing a Saturday walkthrough.
  • Being spotted at a casino after said benching.
  • Getting accused of assault in January.

Suddenly a roster spot for 2025 seems far from guaranteed. Quite the free fall for someone who seemingly could have been in the first-round conversation last April if he had his shit even a little bit together.

Key injuries

There are two potential long-term injuries to worry about in Cincy when it comes to fantasy-relevant players:

  • TE Erick All (knee): Unfortunately is expected to miss the entire 2025 season due to complications from his ACL injury last November.
  • RB Zack Moss (neck): Was ruled out indefinitely last November. There haven't been many (any?) updates since, but it certainly seems like the sort of injury that could prove to be a true long-term issue.

 

 

What Are The Biggest Needs of the Bengals Ahead Of 2025?

Team Need No. 1: Pass Catcher

This could be solved in a hurry should the Bengals simply decide to re-sign Tee Higgins and/or Mike Gesicki, who averaged his most receiving yards per game (39.1) since 2021 while working as the team's de facto big slot receiver. Throw in the aforementioned disappointment of Burton, and it's clear more help is needed than just Ja'Marr Chase.

Ideally the team at least: 1.) Makes Chase the league's richest WR, and 2.) Locks down Higgins for a long, long time. Hell, the duo combined for 27 receiving TDs last season–seven more than the next-most productive duo in the league!

Obviously Mr. Triple Crown was the star of the show, but make no mistake about it: Higgins would be THE No. 1 WR on plenty of teams around the NFL. WRs measuring 6-foot-4 and 216 pounds with Higgins' blend of contested-catch goodness and YAC beastliness simply don't fall off trees.

Team Need No. 2: Offensive Line

The Bengals are actually "only" at risk of losing RT Trent Brown and utility piece Cody Ford, but the team's engrained starters simply weren't good enough in 2024 to earn the benefit of the doubt moving forward.

PFF's 30th-ranked group from last season, adding resources to the big uglies up front in order to protect No. 9 should continue to be one of the team's top priorities. After all, the Bengals are one of just 10 teams to draft two or fewer offensive linemen with top-100 picks over the course of the last five drafts.

Team Need No. 3: Secondary

Cincy has the league's sixth-fewest 2025 dollars devoted to its cornerback room and faces the prospect of losing No. 3 S Vonn Bell in free agency. Four of the team's five starters return, although their respective performances haven't lived up to that of departed free agents like S Jessie Bates and CB Chidobe Awuzie, among others.

Overall, this defense ranked just 25th in EPA allowed per dropback (-0.1) last season. All three levels deserve some level of blame, although reigning NFL sack leader EDGE Trey Hendrickson is certainly carrying his weight at the line of scrimmage. Ultimately, it's tough to expect any level of elite coverage performance from a defense without a single corner ranked higher than 40th in PFF's coverage grade ratings from 2024.