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After a trip to the Super Bowl and widespread praise for another strong performance in free agency, the Cincinnati Bengals project to keep slotting highly in power rankings during the offseason.
Right?
The Bengals have found plenty of success in the past and still fallen short in rankings, which has allowed the team to embrace the underdog role. That happened as recently as last year, as winning multiple playoff games was the thing that started forcing rankers to list the Bengals far up the list.
But it would appear the Bengals will stay near the top until they prove otherwise, as they slot second overall in the latest rankings from USA Today’s Nate Davis:
“2. Bengals (2): They’ve done such a good job upgrading QB Joe Burrow’s protection during free agency – La’el Collins, Alex Cappa, Ted Karras – that they’ve opened up their draft options … and Cincinnati has quietly been one of the league’s better talent evaluators in recent years.”
That trio — La’el Collins, Alex Cappa, Ted Karras — is probably what keeps the Bengals second. Buffalo, Tampa Bay and teams like the Chargers have had very strong offseasons that could have resulted in a massive climb, too.
We’ll see if this sort of ranking holds for the entire offseason, but the Bengals enter the new season with a chance to defend the high ranking each week.
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