Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is excited about the team’s additions.
The Bengals added defensive tackles Jonathan Allen and Dexter Lawrence, edge rusher Boye Mafe, safeties Bryan Cook and Kyle Dugger, and cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor in free agency. The reinforcements along the defensive line, combined with a healthy Burrow, have the veteran signal-caller optimistic about the season.
“I’m really excited about the moves we made this offseason,” Burrow said in an interview with Vanity Fair, published on May 5, at the 2026 Met Gala. “We need to get better, so it was exciting to see the initiative from everybody in the organization to realize that we’re in this exciting stage. We’re in our primes playing great football. Finding guys like Dexter and Bryan Cook and Boye [Mafe], to, you know, really solidify that defense so the young guys can also kind of rise up. We’re really going to try to achieve what we want to achieve.”
Burrow did not say who the “we” was, but the Bengals have a core trio on offense consisting of him and wide receivers Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase. The three helped elevate the Bengals to an appearance in Super Bowl LVI and a deep playoff run in 2022. But they went 9–8 and missed the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, then went 6–11 last season.
Defense, in particular, has been the Achilles’ heel for the team in that time. The Bengals had the NFL’s 31st-ranked defense in yardage and 21st in scoring in 2023; in 2024, they ranked 25th in both yardage and scoring; in 2025, they ranked 31st in yardage and 30th in scoring.
The Bengals have gone through a significant overhaul of the defense. They fired defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo after the 2024 season and let defensive lineman Sheldon Rankins and linebackers Akeem Davis-Gaither and Germaine Pratt go in the 2025 off-season. They replaced Anarumo with Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden.
In 2026, they overhauled the front even further. They let edge rushers Trey Hendrickson, Joseph Ossai, and Cam Sample walk in free agency, along with safeties Geno Stone and Tycen Anderson and cornerbacks Cam Taylor-Britt and Marco Wilson. They signed Mafe away from the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, Cook from the Kansas City Chiefs, Allen from the Minnesota Vikings, Dugger from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Taylor from the New York Jets. Just before the NFL Draft, they traded the 10th overall pick to the New York Giants for Lawrence.
“It’s a big emphasis, and they brought in a lot of defensive guys,” Lawrence said at his introductory press conference in April. “And that’s what you do when you want to win. You fix the problems. And that was a problem.”
The free agents add to a young core of former first-round picks Shemar Stewart and Myles Murphy; veterans B.J. Hill and T.J. Slaton; and 2024 draft picks Kris Jenkins and McKinnley Jackson. They also drafted Cashius Howell and Landon Robinson in the 2026 Draft.
“We [are] the best athletes on the field,” Lawrence joked of the defensive line. “You need that presence up front. That’s where the action starts. It starts up front. And when you can have a dominant defensive line with a dominant attitude and presence, it can take over a game.”
In addition to the reinforcements on the defensive front, Burrow himself is also coming back healthy. He suffered a form of turf toe that included significant ligament damage to his foot and missed 9 games. Without him, the Bengals went 1–8 in that span. In 8 games, Burrow went 5–3 as a starter; he completed 173 of 259 passes for 1,809 yards and 17 touchdowns with 5 interceptions. He added 14 rushes for 41 yards and was sacked 17 times.
And Burrow may be helpful in recruiting another weapon for the offense. Veteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins told Sports Illustrated this week that he is interested in joining the Bengals.
“I think Joe is one of the best,” he said. “I love his game, his toughness. I mean, he took his team to a Super Bowl early in his career, and I feel like he can get back there with a little bit of help.”
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