Cincinnati Bengals Depth Chart 2018 Bengals Depth Chart

Preseason Analysis: Mixon's Time to Shine

The Bengals did not have a lot of offensive movement, even though their wide receiver core desperately needs it. Andy Dalton is still under center, but they did lose backup A.J. McCarron to the Bills. Cincinnati also let Jeremy Hill walk away, who was the odd man out with Joe Mixon in town. 2018 should have Mixon as a lead back with Giovani Bernard sprinkled in on receiving downs and to give Mixon rest. Bernard is a solid handcuff in 2018 if anything happens to Mixon, there is not much depth. The Bengals drafted John Ross last season, but injuries have hindered him so far. Brandon LaFell continues to still be a WR2 in Cincinnati, as for some reason they have not looked for a better option. The Bengals have two quality tight ends in Tyler Eifert and Tyler Kroft. Eifert is the guy, but has missed a lot of time over the last two seasons. Outside of A.J. Green and Joe Mixon, there are not a lot of playmakers currently in play. As Cincinnati turns to a more run heavy offense, the depth guys might not matter a whole lot unless injuries occur, and they have often in Cincy.

One NFL team that will be very interesting to follow in 2018 will be the Cincinnati Bengals. For the past 15 years, the Cincinnati Bengals have continued to be managed by head coach Marvin Lewis. Now entering his 16th season, Lewis seems to be on the hot seat more than ever before in his tenure with the team. As the coach of the Bengals, Lewis has led to the team to the playoffs 7 times, but has not been in the past three seasons. The team has also never won a playoff game under Lewis. Due to the need to succeed now, there are plenty of interesting storylines following the Bengals this year. This year, the Bengals will once again rely heavily on their offensive playmakers. For the past few seasons, the Bengals have been able to enjoy AJ Green as the leading wide receiver on the team. Since being drafted by the Bengals, Green and quarterback Andy Dalton have created one of the more formidable passing attacks in the league.

This year, the team will also work more to get second year running back Joe Mixon involved into the offensive schemes. Mixon is very talented, but did not have too much of an impact on the field last year. Mixon is widely expected to get far more playing time, especially considering running back Jeremy Hill left the team to join the Patriots. It is expected that Mixon will spend a lot of time catching passes out of the backfield while also spending some time spread out as a third or fourth wide receiver. Giovani Bernard will continue to take the bulk of the handoffs from the backfield. Including the loss of Hill, the Bengals lost a lot of good players to free agency over the offseason. This includes losing linebacker Kevin Minter and cornerback Adam Jones, both of which were stars of the defense last year. The Bengals also ended up losing quarterback AJ McCarron to the Buffalo Bills. McCarron was often considered one of the top backup quarterbacks in the league and the loss of depth at the position will be missed. The Bengals clearly are focused on improving their defense this year as well. During the draft, the Bengals used seven of their first eight draft picks on defensive players. This included drafting safety Jessie Bates III, who played for Kentucky last year. Bates is widely expected to help fill the void felt by the loss of Adam Jones. Bates will compete for a starting spot in the lineup right away and will likely fill in a lot initially on dime and nickel packages.