The Cincinnati Bengals, at least momentarily, have a big problem on their hands at safety after Vonn Bell agreed to a deal with the Carolina Panthers in free agency.
Of the two starting safeties set to hit free agency, it was generally agreed upon that Bell would return and Jessie Bates would likely reset the market while signing with a rebuilding team.
Turns out Bell signed with a re-building team.
It really, really hurts for the Bengals to lose Bell given his understanding of Lou Anarumo’s scheme and the fact he would have started next to first-round product Dax Hill next year, had he re-signed.
As of now, these are the safeties on the roster:
- Dax Hill
- Michael Thomas
- Tycen Anderson
- Brandon Wilson
Now, Cincinnati has to entrust Hill to play what is really his rookie season in the Bates role while a newcomer learns it, too.
Bell was incredibly valuable on the field, totaling 114, 97 and 77 total tackles in his three seasons with the team starting in 2020. He picked off five passes and forced eight fumbles over that span, too:
Vonn Bell has recorded 19 hustle stops over the last two seasons, tied for 4th-most among defensive backs.
The safety has also shown his range as a blitzer, recording 13 pressures since 2021 (tied for 5th among DB).#KeepPounding https://t.co/h4pBMzvPrC pic.twitter.com/41e4h9GLi1
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) March 13, 2023
Even so, it’s impossible to blame Bell — the Bengals just spent some of the allotted cash on bringing back linebacker Germaine Pratt.
The Panthers just did something the Bengals are very familiar with:
This is how it should be done: Go all-in on guys from winning programs. Bengals did it with other signings/draftees. Now Panthers do it with Vonn.
— Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) March 13, 2023
The Bengals will almost undoubtedly bring on another veteran safety via free agency at some point to help ease some of these concerns.
In the meantime, Bengals fans can merely salute one of the biggest keys to the Zac Taylor rebuild (remember the culture-shocking hit on JuJu?) as Bell moves on to influence another franchise trying to head in the right direction.
