The Cincinnati Bengals are mixing up the defensive rotation.
During the Week 14 win over the Dallas Cowboys, the Bengals trotted out a major shift in the trenches, according to the snap counts from the game.
There, Myles Murphy played 34 snaps, while Joseph Ossai played 30 and Sam Hubbard was all the way down to 21 snaps.
It’s a notable shift toward a youth movement and fans might argue it should have happened sooner, especially after Hubbard has struggled and admitted he is playing through a pretty serious injury.
The Bengals need Murphy, a former first-round pick, to be a key piece of the future. And Ossai seems to be turning a corner, so he could earn himself a bigger look for 2025, too.
While the Bengals aren’t out of the playoff race just yet, they need to start thinking about 2025, too, and this is one key way to do it.