The Cincinnati Bengals retooled their defensive roster this offseason in historic fashion. They signed S Bryan Cook, DE Boye Mafe, DT Jonathan Allen, and S Kyle Dugger in free agency. They traded their first-round pick for DT Dexter Lawrence and drafted DE Cashius Howell and CB Tacario Davis.

From the defensive line to the secondary, virtually every layer of this defense received meaningful reinforcement: except one.

The linebacker room that finished 2025 as arguably the worst unit in the NFL will enter training camp with essentially the same personnel it had when the season ended. No veteran addition, no draft pick, no trade.

While Bengals fans have expressed appreciation for the front office’s renewed sense of urgency, the team’s thin linebacker depth has been difficult to ignore. 

Starting back Demetrius Knight Jr., apparently, has heard the noise and recently addressed the rumblings from fans.

“There’s a ton of talk, but we don’t listen to it because it can be hit or miss,” Knight said (via CLNS Cincinnati’s Mike Petraglia). “We know what we need to work on, so we’re not really focusing on if we got better or got worse. We are always in each other’s ear, we are here for each other, we’re growing together… we’re going to continue to stand on our faith, first and foremost, in Jesus, and then keep pressing on.”

While Knight appears confident, Bengals fans have every right to be concerned after they watched opposing teams shred the secondary to pieces last season. Cincinnati fielded one of the NFL’s worst defenses in 2025, largely due to the poor play of its inexperienced linebackers.

Knight and Barrett Carter were thrust into the starting rotation in their rookie years and their lack of experience was obvious. Both logged in the most snaps among the Bengals linebackers, with no other player logging more than 400 snaps.

Knight posted a 40.2 overall PFF grade, 83rd among 88 qualifying linebackers, with a run-defense grade of 34.4 that ranked 87th at the position. He allowed a 115.7 passer rating when targeted in coverage and was charged with 16 missed tackles on the season. 

Carter was marginally worse overall, a 39.5 PFF grade ranking 85th of 88, allowing a 115.3 passer rating in coverage with 18 missed tackles and a coverage grade of 35.5 that ranked 80th at the position. 

Out of the 59 linebackers who played at least 50% of snaps in 2025, PFF ranked Knight at No. 56 and Carter at No. 57. They were ranked as the worst rookie linebacker tandem in the league.

The linebacker situation reached its lowest point when the 88th-ranked linebacker in football was also on Cincinnati’s roster, veteran Oren Burks, who earned a 30.2 PFF grade across 340 snaps. The Bengals had three of the worst linebackers in the league on the same depth chart, simultaneously.

The fan frustration is entirely justified. Cincy Jungle’s Jason Garrison put it plainly: “The plan is there is no plan. Conventional wisdom and some common sense would have you believe the best course of action to improve play at linebacker is something, anything, other than absolutely nothing.” 

Yet here the Bengals stand, betting on year-two growth.

The front office’s logic, however uncomfortable, isn’t without merit. Both Knight and Carter were rookies thrown into the deep end behind a struggling defensive line and without a fully established defensive system.

The hope is that Lawrence’s presence in the middle now changes the operating conditions entirely, that collapsing pockets and shorter throws reduce the coverage windows that exposed both players last season.

That’s a significant amount of faith to place in two players who, statistically, gave this defense very little reason for it. Knight says the noise won’t affect the room. The numbers from 2025 suggest the room should probably be listening a little more carefully.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​