It’s always a fun quick exercise to take a brief step back and compare a team to the rest of the NFL.
In the case of the Cincinnati Bengals, now is a good time to hit the pause button and do this with it obvious the team won’t make any future major splashes on the free-agent market.
The annual NFL Unit Grades from ESPN’s Mike Clay are always a fun way to accomplish this task.
In an effort that ranks straight-up roster talent across the board (sans things like coaching, for example), the Bengals chart tied for fourth overall behind just the Eagles, Cowboys and Dolphins:
Here is the complete first run of 2023 NFL Unit Grades!
Each of the 10 units are ranked 1-32 based on current rosters (assuming Rodgers on NYJ for now) and weighted based on positional importance pic.twitter.com/tphWfvU1x7
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) March 24, 2023
Keep in mind this is a current snapshot — so the Bengals could end up climbing when they, for example, sign anyone at tight end, considering they lost three names to the open market.
As expected, this sort of grading ranking isn’t too dissimilar from a snapshot look at current power rankings. The Bengals have a loaded roster that could only continue to get better in the later stages of free agency and the upcoming draft.
