This was an important offseason for the Cincinnati Bengals, as they made a major investment in their roster. Now, from the outside looking in, they’re widely regarded as a contender in the AFC.
Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn, who is also the daughter of owner Mike Brown, recently addressed those roster additions and praised their roster going into 2026.
“I feel good about the roster. I mean, it’s hard to ask for much more,” Blackburn said. “Because I think we’re pretty solid.”
The focus was largely on the defensive side of the ball for the Bengals this offseason. There, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence was the headline move, but he was also just one of several designed to rebuild the defense.
“I think our offensive line, which sometimes was a spot of focus, we sort of built up a lot more stability there. We have great wide receivers, really solid tight ends, running back, there’s not a glaring issue … Obviously, we worked to get some more pieces in place on the defense, and I really like our offense. Hopefully, they’ll both come out strong, start strong, finish strong, and be strong in between. Then it’d be a fun season,” Blackburn said.
Cincinnati Bengals GM Duke Tobin Was Focused on the Defensive Line
GettyCincinnati Bengals GM Duke Tobin
Defensive line was the focus this offseason for Cincinnati Bengals GM Duke Tobin. That’s both who they chose to move on from and who they chose to add.
The Bengals would let Trey Hendrickson walk in free agency, losing a top edge rusher in the process. Looking to make up for that, Cincinnati sent the No. 10 overall draft pick to the New York Giants for Dexter Lawrence. The Bengals also added edge rusher Boye Mafe and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen in free agency.
Once the NFL Draft rolled around, the Bengals used their first pick, which came in the second round, on the defensive line. Cincinnati took edge rusher Cashius Howell out of Texas A&M with the 41st overall pick.
Katie Blackburn touched on that effort as well. In particular, how Duke Tobin and the personnel team handled it.
“It’s really just been a team effort of taking input from Duke, and our other personnel team. They worked really hard to come up with some pretty good thoughts for the offseason and then we tried to implement them,” Katie Blackburn said. “We were obviously looking to make some improvements on the defense and had been looking at some different things through the offseason. Obviously, we were extremely happy to have added Jonathan Allen, (Boye) Mafe, but defensive tackle was a spot we kept talking about a lot.”
Katie Blackburn on the Future of Duke Tobin, Zac Taylor
GettyCincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor
It’s now been three seasons since the Bengals made the playoffs. That will weigh on a team, and potentially put GM Duke Tobin and head coach Zac Taylor on the hot seat. That’s even with the pair making a Super Bowl during their tenure together.
Still, they’re back for another year. That’s something Blackburn feels as though they deserve.
“I think both Zac and Duke are experienced guys with proven success and really good people, and we feel good about them for a lot of reasons,” Blackburn said. “We think they deserve another opportunity to prove that we can do what we hope we can do. There’s also that element of consistency that hopefully will prove out to be beneficial, too, so I think those are the things that we would rather try to take advantage of and build on, rather than having to regroup and figure things out a little bit from scratch.”
Certainly, with the investment in the roster, ownership will expect more in 2026. Otherwise, the Bengals may be forced to make difficult decisions.
Bengals Ownership Shares Honest Thoughts on the Roster Going into 2026