Bengals NFL Draft dives, Part 1: Safety and LB needs spark positional value debate

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This the first of a five-part series laying out the Bengals’ draft outlook at the primary positions of need in the 2025 NFL Draft. 

• Monday: Safety/linebacker
• Tuesday: Offensive line
• Wednesday: Edge rusher
• Thursday: Defensive tackle
• Friday: Skill positions

Teams never want to pigeonhole themselves in a draft. They’d love to spend all weekend repeating “best player available” into microphones raving about a draft class that fell into place.

The Bengals can’t say that this year. A free agency period lacking solutions at multiple positions while tied up negotiating Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase deals leaves them needing answers capable of competing and starting early in 2025.

Near the top of that list are safety and linebacker. That’s why they are grouped together here. These two positions (along with offensive guard) offer the most snaps available for a rookie in 2025. It’s fully possible a rookie could hold down the Week 1 starting spot at both of these positions.

The draft does not set up in the Bengals’ favor in that regard, and analyzing their strategy to attack the positions could provide the storyline everyone ends up talking about with new coordinator Al Golden’s defense in August.

The list below includes the year a player is signed through and his age in parentheses.

Safeties

2025

Geno Stone (25): Disappointing first year, but there’s hope he steadies in Year 2. A premium pick would immediately be aiming for this spot.

Tycen Anderson (25): An All-Pro-caliber special teamer. A question whispered: Could he carve out a role on defense if necessary?

PJ Jules (23): Practice squad competition.

Jaylen Key (25): Practice squad competition. Played with Jordan Battle at Alabama.

2026

Jordan Battle (24): The Bengals see the arrow pointing up and are counting on his evolution as a quality starter.

2027

Daijahn Anthony (24): A solid camp for the seventh-rounder was overshadowed by mistakes in limited playing time.

Linebackers

2025

Germaine Pratt (28): He requested a trade and was not in the Bengals’ plans. The team would save $5.6 million on the cap with a release. If they miss in the draft, does he stay?

Shaka Heyward (24): Limited action, competing for the final roster spot with the practice squad most likely.

Craig Young (24): Should compete for the practice squad.

2026

Oren Burks (30): Shined for the Eagles last postseason, seen as Akeem Davis-Gaither’s replacement. A journeyman who could end up a starter.

Maema Njongmeta (24): UDFA impressed and made the team as a rookie. Intriguing development to watch.

2027

Logan Wilson (28): The Bengals are building their defense around Wilson. Golden can’t stop raving about him.

Profile they seek

What the Bengals are looking for at these spots shapes the top of the draft board dramatically, likely breaking ties among players graded similarly in a vacuum but possessing better fits in Cincinnati, specifically. At safety, they need a complement to Battle. He’s the player they are buying in this system. Battle plays better downhill and attacking the line than dropping as a post safety. Look for eyes to be on a post safety who can finally deliver what the defense lost in Jessie Bates. A great communicator and leader will be critical in that equation. At linebacker, they seek consistency. Can a player know the system, be in the right spots and tackle well? That baseline would be more important than high-ceiling flashes.

They said it

Golden on what he values in the safety position:

“Be able to command your team. I think that’s really important. You have to be audible and demonstrative. You have to defend the deep ball really well whether that’s third, half, quarter. You have to be a great tackler, especially in the alley. There’s more than that, but that’s a good start. If you can start there, with those traits … We’re talking to all the safety group that we’re on the same page and we can communicate and we can solve problems and more importantly, the empowerment. Be empowered to solve the problem. We can fix decisions, but we can’t fix indecision. We have to make sure we have decisive guys back there.”

History

The last time the Bengals selected a linebacker in the first two rounds was Rey Maualuga (No. 38) in 2009. The Bengals have hammered linebackers in the third round, though. Five of the club’s 13 third-round picks in the last decade have been linebackers (Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, Malik Jefferson, Nick Vigil, Paul Dawson). That’s more than any team.

To take the predictability a step further, 11 of Cincinnati’s last 15 third-round picks have been linebackers, safeties or defensive ends. All three positions certainly feel in the crosshairs again.

You don’t see many safeties go early in the draft, but the Bengals haven’t hesitated in recent years. They took Bates in the second round in 2018 and Dax Hill in the first round in 2022.

Stat dive

A critical question in assessing the Bengals’ approach at safety will be the importance of athleticism at the position. While athleticism doesn’t hurt, the cerebral nature of safety shows minimal correlation between extreme athleticism and success at the next level.

Using Relative Athletic Score, this shows clearly.

Look at the RAS of Pro Bowl safeties drafted in the last 10 years.

Green shows elite athletic testing, orange average and red below average.

Nobody would claim athleticism to be a disadvantage, but most importantly, for safeties it’s far from a prerequisite for top-tier performance. Some positions almost solely see top players with elite testing, edge rusher serving as a primary example. That’s just not the case with safety where so much is based on instincts, awareness and anticipation of the quarterback’s decision.

That brings up the interesting case of the top two players in this class, Georgia’s Malaki Starks and South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori.

Starks, while a smooth mover, is not an elite athlete. Emmanwori posted one of the few perfect 10 RAS scores in combine history. He’s the true definition of a rare athlete for the position, running, jumping and accelerating at freakish levels for a 6-3, 220-pounder.

Yet, many consider Starks the better prospect because of his instincts, playmaking and leadership for the Bulldogs.

Emmanwori would be slightly redundant playing next to Battle, with the strength of both shifting down toward the line of scrimmage. Yet, Emmanwori could unlock creativity for Golden to play Geno Stone in three-safety situations and use the South Carolina star as a hybrid big nickel playmaker. Figuring out the role will be key to assessing the importance of the athleticism component.

A perspective of what matters — and doesn’t — in safety play in the NFL makes for an important note in the first-round conversation.

Understanding the class

The options are thin at the top for both linebacker and safety. A collection of 5-7 prospects project to go in the first and second rounds combined at both positions. Neither of these are considered premium positions nor stocked which does increase the value of those deemed actually worthy of selection near the top of the draft.

Bengals fits

Malaki Starks, S, Georgia: Coaches and teammates rave about Starks at Georgia. He’s an A-plus-plus character player (just read Seth Emerson’s story about his family’s battle out of homelessness) who was a starter as a freshman, elite as a sophomore and captain of a team that lived in big games and won a title during his tenure. I would take the No. 17 pick, but Starks would be a Day 1 starter and future leader of Golden’s defense.

Xavier Watts, S, Notre Dame: Just ask Golden, right? He played safety for the coordinator for three years at Notre Dame. Golden had this to say about Watts: “He was an integral part of it. There’s a comfort level when you’re a play-caller and you know someone has the same heartbeat, someone understands exactly what you’re looking for. I’m excited for him and the opportunity he has here moving forward. It’s really important that we develop that alignment here in Cincinnati.”

I can think of one way to develop that alignment at No. 49.

Demetrius Knight, LB, South Carolina: A third-round projection, Price would fit into the Bengals linebacker comfort zone. He’s older, now 25 as a six-year player, but his game holds up against the best competition. He brings A-plus background (his cousin is DeAngelo Hall) and football IQ. He’ll get dinged for not being an elite athlete, but he makes plays (turn on the Alabama tape). Oddly enough, NFL Network’s Lance Zierlein compared him to Germaine Pratt, the exact player he’d be picked to replace.

Variable

Jihaad Campbell, LB, Alabama: What type of linebacker does Golden want? Campbell comes with the linebacker tag but offers so much more which is why he’s a definite first-round pick and a consideration for the Bengals despite their normal reluctance to pick the position early. Campbell plays at an explosive version of the position but also brings versatility as an edge rusher and all-around playmaker. If used properly, he’s a lethal weapon. Does Golden want a defense with Campbell’s style or a more traditional role more focused on consistency and working within the system? Would Campbell fit the Vyper position Golden used at Notre Dame? He had a labrum injury, is there a medical concern? If there were one player I’d like to be a fly on the draft room wall to hear the debate about, it’s him.

Sleeper

Billy Bowman Jr., S, Oklahoma: A well-liked player for the Sooners, he pulled down eight interceptions the past two years and would be a candidate to take over as post safety next to Battle. He’s undersized and that could prove a problem, but also the reason he would likely be available in the fourth round.

Prediction

Starks in Round 1 and Knight in Round 3. You can see a world where the Bengals opt for Emmanwori and let Golden get creative with implementation but Starks feels like the cleanest pick and safer of the two to provide needed stability on the back end. Then look for a third-round linebacker to reenter the equation and why not take the Pratt clone to replace him with the South Carolina linebacker Knight?

(Top photo of Malaki Starks: Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)

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