Ranking the Bengals' Defensive Needs For the 2026 Offseason

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4.7 • 854 Ratings

🗓️ 25 January 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cincinnati Bengals face a make-or-break offseason as their defensive deficiencies threaten another season with Joe Burrow. Can the front office land a game-changing pass rusher or transform the secondary with a top safety? Upgrades are needed at defensive end, defensive tackle, safety, and linebacker as Trey Hendrickson’s departure looms and depth remains a concern. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down positional needs, debate draft and free agency priorities, and weigh the value of identity players for revitalizing Al Golden's defense. Will Cincinnati’s strategy deliver the defensive facelift required to contend in the AFC North?

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Cincinnati Bengals have a lot of work to do to field a solid plus defense in 2026.
0:06.8	Let's break down how they should prioritize their defensive needs.
0:16.0	You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast.
0:21.0	Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
0:26.7	What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast.
0:31.4	Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day, the number one sports
0:36.0	podcast network in the land.
0:37.8	He's James Rapine. I'm Jake. Let's go.
0:39.1	We've been locked on Bengals here since 2016, bringing you daily content, daily analysis,
0:46.1	daily news updates on your Cincinnati Bengals.
0:49.4	You are in the best spot anywhere to stay up to date on your Cincinnati Bengals. Today we start a series
0:57.9	wherein we will take a look at the Bengals' off-season priorities and try to rank them,
1:04.1	try to put them in order. This conversation this year naturally will start on the defensive
1:09.6	side of the ball. The everydayers have heard us alluding to this coming for a few weeks now.
1:15.6	And now we're recording this before the conference championships.
1:19.4	We finally get into the first episode of trying to put together a priority list for the Cincinnati Bengals and how they can attack this offseason.
1:29.9	And the reason we start with defense, James, is that that's where the clear needs are, right?
1:37.0	Like, on the one hand, you could say, yeah, well, right guard, they don't have a starting right guard right now.
1:45.4	Backup quarterback.
1:46.2	They don't have a backup quarterback right now.
1:48.4	And those things are true.
1:50.2	But we'll get there when we talk about the offense.
	...

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