It can easily be argued that the offensive line is a priority as much as the defense.
The OL finished 28th as a unit in PFF’s end-of-season rankings, and as great as Burrow is, he’s now missed a lot of time in half of his six NFL seasons. It has become obvious in each of these cases that the Bengals go like him.
However, Cincy would make things easier to fix their defense. After ranking sixth in second-string points allowed in the AFC Championship game, the Bengals have finished 21st, 25th and 30th over the past three seasons. In two of those campaigns, the defense ranked 31st in yards allowed.
The Bengals need to make a decision on Trey Hendrickson’s fate, as there is a lack of upside. They had to re-sign him last year after four straight Pro Bowl campaigns, only to see injuries wipe out all but seven of the star’s games. He was still tied for third on the team with four sacks, just 1.5 behind leader Myles Murphy.
Whether Cincinnati keeps him through the franchise tag or part ways with Hendrickson by tag and trade the runner or simply let him walk, it will have a ripple effect.
Fortunately, the Bengals should benefit from evaluating any upcoming decisions without working against the cap. They are projected to have the seventh most cap space, with $53.5 million heading into free agency. There’s plenty to dip into the talent pool on both sides of the ball, and they also hold the No. 10 overall pick in April’s draft.
It’s important that the team makes the right switches, so Cincy doesn’t look at another year of Burrow and Chase falling short of expectations.
No matter what happens, and regardless of concerns from fans that the team is wasting this duo’s best years, Chase plans to contribute by focusing on his own production.
“Everyone has an opinion at the end of the day, and sometimes an opinion is just a right to be heard,” he said. “But I can’t judge people based on how they feel. I know that all I can do is control what I can control and that’s my game. And what my game does is only how far I can lead the team to success or not.”