A few new Bengals are getting ready to start up the team’s offseason program in May, and one in particular could play a huge role in turning around the defense. Fans are hoping Jonathan Allen can tap back into attacking-defensive tackle mode this season like he has plenty of times throughout his career.
Cincinnati just inked him to a two-year, $25 million deal that’s really a one-year investment for the Bengals to see if the 31-year-old can tap back into his Pro Bowl ways. The Alabama product hasn’t had great numbers in a few years. On the quarterback pressure front, he tallied 34 and 26 QB pressures over the past two seasons. Before that, he’d posted four consecutive seasons with at least 45 pressures.
Flying Low
FOX Sports writer and NFL reporter Eric Williams thinks he is the fifth-best under-the-radar signing of the offseason.
“Released by the Minnesota Vikings at the start of free agency in a cost-cutting move, the 31-year-old Allen brings grit and experience to a Cincinnati defense that struggled to get off the field all season,” Williams wrote. “Even with one of the best quarterbacks in the league in Joe Burrow, the Bengals have missed the playoffs the last three seasons.
“Yes, Allen has struggled from a production standpoint in producing sacks, with just 12 over the last three seasons. But Allen should be more of an impact player as a situational pass rusher with a reduction in snaps. And the Bengals could use competency and versatility up front defensively. Allen joins former Seattle Seahawks edge rusher Boye Mafe and safety Bryan Cook from Kansas City to add reinforcements to a Cincinnati defense that finished No. 30 in scoring last season.”
Cincinnati will supplement Cook, Mafe, and Allen with plenty of draft talent next month. All in an effort to turn around the biggest block for their playoff return. Kicker Evan McPherson played a big role in the 2024 failures as well, but he fully fixed those issues last season, while the defense hung the whole team out to dry, to exacerbate a brutal Joe Burrow injury.
Allen’s resurgence would be a huge factor in stopping teams from running the ball at will and getting that always-important interior QB pressure, areas where Cincinnati ranked in the bottom half of the league throughout (Last overall in yards per play allowed).
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