NFL Draft helps Bengals ‘plot the course’ for Al Golden’s defensive vision

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CINCINNATI — Toward the end of director of player personnel Duke Tobin’s press conference before the NFL Draft, he was specifically asked about fixing the team’s defense. This made sense given the unit’s wretched 2024 and the dismissal of longtime defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.

Tobin understandably sounded supportive of paving the best possible path for new defensive coordinator Al Golden, eager to return the group to respectability. They want to build a championship-level defense and believe in the importance of that side of the ball — even as trucks of money have been unloaded at the offensive skill positions.

The support for Golden was noteworthy, even in a session that was designed to be boring. It wasn’t the words as much as the serious tone of Tobin’s answer that echoed throughout the room.

“He’s a big part of what we’re doing up there in the draft room,” Tobin said. “And what he says holds a weight with me. It really does. Because I want this to work. I want his vision to work.”

This draft, this offseason, and to a larger degree, the prime of Joe Burrow’s career, will be determined by Tobin, Golden and Zac Taylor’s ability to collaborate.

The work is far from done as they sit in May with Phase 2 of the offseason about to put these players on the field with Golden for the first time. Yet, the path in bringing the vision to life provided a fascinating study in how this defense could change under Golden and shined a light on what they believe works in today’s NFL.

‘THE NO. 1 THING AL ARTICULATED WHEN HE WALKED IN THE DOOR’

When director of college scouting Mike Potts would swing through Notre Dame in the fall every year, he always found time to catch up with Golden, the Bengals’ former linebackers coach. They chatted multiple times after he left Cincinnati for South Bend.

So, when Golden returned to reinvent the Bengals’ defense, the first meetings between the personnel and the new coaching staff about the direction of the defense didn’t start at Chapter 1.

“So that relationship and transition was very smooth and easy,” Potts said. “And getting on the same page with him was a process that we worked through. So we were starting maybe a little bit ahead of the curve.”

Tobin, Potts and the staff evaluated every prospect “as if there was a blank roster,” taking needs and scheme out of the equation. Once they figured out the scheme fits, the stress for a new type of linebacker and defensive end was obvious. All linebackers are not created equal. The difference between stack linebackers (more true middle linebackers) and off-ball linebackers (capable of playing traditional edge/outside linebacker) was mentioned by Golden after multiple picks, along with the excitement of using more defensive ends to ramp up the interior pass rush.

Versatility and the ability to have the same personnel in different formations were paramount. But players must also have the intelligence to handle all that comes with that versatility.

“It just depends on how it shakes out, but if we need to play with more linebackers, or if it’s bigger personnel and we need to play with four linebackers on the field, we’ll certainly do that,” Golden said. “And, obviously, if they’re intelligent, then that helps because they can learn a multitude of positions for us.”

The vision of versatility landed on 17th overall pick Shemar Stewart for a reason. That’s not to say other players who came off the board in the first 16 picks were without heartbreak.

“They were all over our radar,” Taylor said.

Like every draft, there are many scenarios and it’s easy to see players who could have ended up as Bengals had the round fallen differently. But Stewart lived at the top of their board when on the clock at No. 17 — not just because of his 10.0 Relative Athletic Score or absurd combine workout.

“I’m Shemar Stewart and I’m the newest Bengal in town.”#WhoDey x @ShemarStewart14 pic.twitter.com/pJFmomDSrt

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) April 30, 2025

The workout matched the tape, and their evaluation didn’t change much after multiple exposures to him via school visits, a meeting at the combine and the Senior Bowl.

More than any factor, Stewart’s style was a lab-made personification of Golden’s edge vision.

“This was the No. 1 thing Al articulated when he walked in the door was this role for this player and all the jobs this person can do,” Taylor said. “To get one that is the size and speed of Shemar is outstanding.”

Most systems need athletes with rare speed-power combinations coming off the edge. Still, the idea of bumping edges inside in specific packages to amplify the pass rush or keep the offense off balance plays directly into Stewart’s skill set. They viewed the disruption as a far bigger influence than the 1.5 sacks in the box score.

“You would have loved for him to check every single box,” Potts said. “That’s not the case, but I do think he checks more boxes than he doesn’t check.”

The biggest box checked? Golden’s edge vision.

‘NOW WE CAN PLOT THE COURSE’

Taylor rarely goes on pro day visits. He typically picks one a year from a school that will have a large number of draftable players of interest. Last season, he trekked down to the University of Texas, where 11 Longhorns ended up being selected.

This year, he planned to go with Potts to the University of South Carolina.

Their defense ranked among the best in college football, and five Gamecocks defenders were selected in the first four rounds. Just as Taylor was ready to leave, the Bengals signed Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, and the head coach needed to stay in Cincinnati.

But his excitement about the trip was all part of the research and tape he watched in preparation. Chief among those was Demetrius Knight Jr., who would eventually go to Cincinnati at 49.

His style of play — intelligence, tackling and versatility — again drew a large check in the Golden vision box. The more they learned in reports from Potts and senior personnel executive Trey Brown, who both went through campus, and from Taylor talking with trusted friend and South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer, only made the target larger.

The match was off the charts, specifically off the field. Knight Jr., who is married with two kids and famously drove DoorDash after games while at UNC-Charlotte to make ends meet, transformed his body from a high school quarterback to a chiseled 235-pound linebacker. He brings instant maturity, tenacity and leadership that a team can build a defense around. While his age at 24 was used against him in the evaluation, for Golden’s vision and needs, it was a positive.

“It’s definitely an advantage at times,” Potts said. “Obviously, you would like the guy that’s younger that has the same amount of experience. I do think he has way more upside than you would suggest typically from a guy of his age, 24 going on 25. So, you take all the factors, but with a guy at that position that we want to come in and be a leader, part of the evaluation is the character and the makeup that he’s bringing to our team. I think the maturity and everything he brings off the field, as well as on the field, were all pluses across the board.”

The linebacker crop in this draft that specifically fit the Bengals was limited. They didn’t view a long list of options in case Knight got plucked in front of them. That’s why Golden recalled sweating all day on the pick and Tobin passed on opportunities to trade back.

“It’s not just any linebacker,” Taylor said. “Al does an excellent job of outlining it has to be this measurable, this skill set. So we thought the scouts did a great job of taking that information and finding some players that fit us.”

It’s also why the defensive tackle need ended up just missing on a fourth consecutive pick in the fourth round when they doubled up going for Clemson’s Barrett Carter. He was basically the only other linebacker they saw with the same capability of executing Golden’s vision, and making an instant impact.

The former linebackers coach prefers to run the defense through that position group rather than the safeties, as was the case under Anarumo. So, yes, defensive tackle was on the priority list. Still, if there was one element Golden wanted to feel confident about in his new defense, it was the depth and capabilities of the linebackers to look and play like he desired.

Carter’s noted intelligence from the Bengals’ trusted sources at Clemson (they’ve selected four Tigers in six seasons under Taylor) lifted him on the board and officially revamped a room headed by Logan Wilson.

“I feel like we’re two-deep at linebacker now,” Golden said. “If we’re playing 4-2, we still need some help in terms of if we’re playing a base 4-3 structure. So, I just feel like we have six, seven linebackers. I think we have more ends now. So, I think we’ve fortified a bunch of positions. It just gives me a sense of, ‘OK, now we can plot the course,’ because we were waiting for, ‘Are we going to be a big nickel team against 12-personnel? Are we going to be a base team?’ So, at least we know now we have the components to go ahead and invest in a base package if we wanted to.”

‘ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL, WE WOULD LIKE TO ADD ANOTHER DRAFT LIKE THAT’

The first draft Golden was a part of as linebackers coach in Cincinnati came in 2020. He had 2019 third-rounder Germaine Pratt and a cast of veterans to work with. Cincinnati took three linebackers that year — Logan Wilson at the top of the third round, Akeem Davis-Gaither at the top of the fourth and Markus Bailey in the seventh.

All three were impeccable characters and had a specific skill set that Golden sought for his group, even in Anarumo’s scheme.

That draft included Joe Burrow and Tee Higgins off the top and set the stage for the best two-year run in franchise history from 2021-’22. It was heavy on captains, character, linebackers — and a decent duo at the top.

Golden firmly believed in a return to that style player for his group, having seen the success rate of the 2020 trio.

“I think it’s always important. Obviously, the (fewer) things you’re worried about off the field, the more you’re focused on what needs to get done,” Golden said, also praising Barrett for his leadership as a captain at Clemson, pointing out he made all the calls in the defense wearing the green dot as communicator with the coordinator. “Those things are all important. It allows you the freedom to get some checks executed on the field. We like to do a lot of our stuff on the grass, so to speak, so we need guys that can think on their toes and get us in the right call, and he’s capable of doing that.”

The Cincinnati Bengals believe they have the pieces in place to properly execute new defensive coordinator Al Golden’s scheme. Once the linebackers coach for the Bengals, Golden returns to Cincinnati after a three-year stint as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. (Michael Miller / ISI Photos / Getty Images)

A draft that hit 6-for-6 on impressive off-field and football character profiles wasn’t merely a coincidence or how the board fell. It was by design. Potts saw this coming.

“We had discussions even leading in to this draft that if the board broke right for us, all things being equal, we would like to add another draft like (2020) just in terms of the culture and everything in the locker room and what we’re trying to build here,” Potts said.

Tobin made sure even before the draft not to refer to Golden’s guys, but specify they are Bengals and all parties exit a naturally divisive and opinionated process embracing a collective vision of roles for the players.

In this case, it was a process months in the making and one that leaves Golden’s task among the most pressure-packed of any coordinator in the NFL.

Tobin needed to give Golden what he wanted, though. He knew that intently. It created a draft skewing more toward needs than a typical year. The biggest need was assuring Golden feels capable of bringing his vision to life and, in turn, resuscitating this franchise’s championship hopes.

“It wasn’t a matter of who is on our roster and not on our roster,” Taylor said. “It was, ‘Who works best for us?’  So we went through and identified, ‘Which of those pieces do we have?’ Al did a great job outlining what’s needed to be successful with the style of defense we are going to play. Then you take our roster in free agency and go through the draft and try to make sure it all fits the best we could.”

(Top photo of Al Golden: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)

This news was originally published on this post .

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