The 2025 Cincinnati Bengals had one of the weirdest defenses you’ll ever see.
According to FTN’s data, Cincinnati’s Defensive DVOA of 30.1% in Weeks 1-9 was the worst in the history of the metric, which currently goes back to 1977. But from Week 10 through the end of the regular season, the Bengals improved their Defensive DVOA to -2.2% (Defensive DVOA is better when it’s negative), up from 32nd to 13th. That didn’t quite erase the sins of the early season — the Bengals finished 30th in Defensive DVOA ahead
of only the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Jets — but there was enough on the bone for management to spend in both draft capital and actual dollars to improve things on that side of the ball.
So, uncharacteristically, they did. They traded the No. 10 overall pick in the 2026 draft to the New York Giants for Dexter Lawrence, the 6’4”, 342-pound one-of-one defensive tackle, and then signed Lawrence to a one-year, $28 million contract with $10 million guaranteed. They also signed former Washington and Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Jonathan Allen to a two-year, $25 million deal with $10.5 million guaranteed. They also signed former Seattle Seahawks edge-rusher Boye Mafe to a three-year, $60 million contract with $19 million guaranteed, and they selected Texas A&M edge-rusher Cashius Howell with the 41st overall pick in the second round of the 2026 draft.
A radical makeover, to be sure. How’s it all working out? Well, the Bengals currently rank 14th in Defensive DVOA, and fifth in the NFL in Total DVOA, behind only the San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Buffalo Bills, and the Kansas City Chiefs. And the newly minted defensive line has made all the difference.
Per SumerSports:
- The Bengals are pressuring opposing quarterbacks 41.6% of the time this season, as opposed to 36.5% in 2025.
- The defense is averaging 16.4 pressures per game this season, as opposed to 13.1 in 2025.
- The sack rate has risen from 5.8% in 2025 to 8.6% in 2026, and through five games, the Bengals have nearly half the sacks (17) as they did in the entire 2025 season (35).
All the new guys acquired via trade or free agency have been balling out.
- Lawrence has 3.0 sacks and 14 pressures.
- Allen has 3.0 sacks and 16 pressures.
- Mafe has 3.0 sacks and 21 pressures.
But with Lawrence, you have to put metrics aside, because it all starts with him. Very few players in football history have presented opposing offenses with Lawrence’s combination of size, strength, speed, agility, and technique. This season, Lawrence has been double-teamed on 94 of his 234 snaps, and while that’s absolutely what you have to do with Sexy Dexy, it doesn’t always go as planned.
Pretty insane stuff for a guy who spends as much time as Lawrence does either straight over the center, or shaded to one side. Per Sports Info Solutions, Lawrence leads the NFL with two sacks and 11 total pressures from the 0-tech (head over) and 1-tech (shaded) alignments. Nobody else in the NFL has more than six pressures from those alignments.
Of course, Lawrence isn’t just there to disrupt on his own; part of his value is how he opens things up for his linemates. That’s where Jonathan Allen comes in. All three of Allen’s sacks this season have come when he’s on the interior of the line along with Lawrence.
Level 1 of that particular kung fu is simply having Allen and Lawrence in gap concepts designed to maximize their specific attributes.
Level 2 of the kung fu happens when Allen and Lawrence start stunting. That is not a pleasant experience for any offensive line.
Then, there’s Mafe, who is a prominent player in his own right — but he’s also feasting on the fact that when Lawrence and Allen are doing their things… well, Mafe has been doubled just 10 times this season, and for good reason.
Defensive coordinator Al Golden, and defensive line coach/run game coordinator Jerry Montgomery have done a nice job of rotating the defensive linemen — six different guys have more than 80 snaps this season — and when you combine that with the talent up top, this has become one of the toughest fronts to deal with in the NFL.
“This is by far the fewest amount of snaps I’ve played in a long time, but it was really good,” Allen said after the Bengals’ 33-27 Week 1 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Allen had a sack in that game. “The rotation was awesome. In the third quarter [when Allen got his sack] and fourth quarter, we were fresh and just rolling.”
Lawrence played just 35 snaps in that game, but he announced himself with three pressures.
“It shows up because of the production a lot of guys around him get oftentimes,” head coach Zac Taylor said of Lawrence and the overall idea. “He still was in there and made his presence felt, and Baker [Mayfield] had to try to get away from him a couple times. [Lawrence] had some runs he really affected as well. But as much as anything, you just see the production that comes to other people because of the attention he draws.”
So yes, Dexter Lawrence is the star of this show, but he’s got all kinds of stars around him, and there’s enough talent to keep everybody fresh. That should make this Bengals defense problematic for every opponent they face this season… and their season may last well beyond Week 18 at this rate.
