Praise continues to flow for new Cincinnati Bengals safety Geno Stone.
A signing aimed at fixing a secondary that allowed tons of explosives last year while struggling with communication, Stone is technically a Jessie Bates replacement one year after the fact.
In other words, Bengals fans will like to hear that Stone is one of the 11 best safeties in the NFL in the mind of Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar:
He had 50 solo tackles and 13 stops, but that wasn’t his game — Stone was there to make sure that Macdonald could deploy his other safeties (including the No. 1 player on our list) in other interesting ways. And as a deep-third defender, Stone allowed 28 catches on 42 targets for 197 yards, 145 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, seven interceptions, eight pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 53.5.
We could throw out more basic stats and snap counts, too, but the point with Stone that makes him a really appealing fit in Cincinnati is simple — his versatility opens up the defense for other players and coordinator Lou Anarumo himself.
With Stone’s skill set and Vonn Bell back to help run a defense he already understands, the goal (while Dax Hill competes at corner) is super obvious.
No wonder Stone and Bell have already been working together.
