The Cincinnati Bengals logically fit as a team that will get active in NFL free agency once again after the NFL draft concludes.
Much of how the Bengals will navigate the post-draft market will hinge on the picks they do make. If they don’t draft an interior defensive lineman, for example, old friend DJ Reader is still out there.
If the Bengals don’t get an edge rusher early in the draft, names like Joey Bosa, Cam Jordan and Jadeveon Clowney are still out there and viable candidates, too.
As we’ve written multiple times now, BJ Hill’s recent social media teases about a Bengals move are less likely to be about a trade for Dexter Lawrence and far more likely to be about a reunion with Reader.
The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. recently commented on this during an episode of The Growler podcast.
In regards to Hill’s tweets, Dehner said the following: “That could certainly be a DJ Reader reference.”
Later, Dehner proposed a signing, making a few logical connections: “Joey Bosa, he’s out there, he’s 31. He’s hanging out with Burrow and Hubbard at the Bosa wedding.”
The Bengals have reversed course on their no 30 year olds in this building habits of the past over the last few years. Reader is aging now, but he’d be a nice depth piece to push TJ Slaton and, of course, veteran leadership. They already signed 31-year-old Jonathan Allen for the interior of the line, too.
Bosa is more of just a fun idea. But he’s also 31 and his very public friendship with Burrow is well known. If he’s waiting on a contender to give him a ring, it could very well be a Bengals team that went first-round cornerback, safety or linebacker and still wants to deepen its pass-rushing rotation.
This is the Burrow-era reality of the modern Bengals: The “big” names in free agency want to play for them. The connect-the-dots game with them makes more sense than ever.
The Bengals’ free-agency moves before the draft, the draft class itself, and then a combo Reader-Bosa signing, or something similar, would be popular and give them guaranteed defensive upgrades going into 2026.
