The Cincinnati Bengals are set to sign former Baltimore Ravens safety Geno Stone to a two-year, $15 million contract with a $6 million signing bonus.
This comes just a year after they let star safeties Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell walk in free agency. Bates went on to sign with the Atlanta Falcons on a four-year, $64.02 million contract with an $18 million signing bonus. Bell went on to sign a three-year, $22.5 million contract with the Carolina Panthers.
These controversial free agency moves came a year before a massive dropoff in the safety market. Over $100 million in cap space was collectively freed up by letting safeties go in free agency so far this offseason. Notable safety releases include All-Pro Justin Simmons, Xavier McKinney, Jordan Poyer and Rayshawn Jenkins.
The Bengals may have successfully capitalized on an over-saturated safety market and gotten a solid safety for much less money, although they did suffer for it in 2023.
The Cincinnati Bengals defense suffered after letting their safeties walk and they are trying to fix that with Geno Stone
The Cincinnati Bengals’ secondary suffered immensely in 2023 after letting Bell and Bates walk in free agency. They ended up rolling with young players such as Dax Hill and Jordan Battle. When combined with lackluster play from Nick Scott, the Bengals had one of the worst passing defenses in the league.
Hey, Josh Allen: Which one is Nick Scott?
👇#Bengals https://t.co/C6PIRm5Thr pic.twitter.com/OS4vrJXiqX— Andrew Fox Miller (@AndrewFoxMiller) November 6, 2023
Lou Anarumo just declared that Jordan Battle will be the starter at strong safety, Nick Scott will have a role still, but Jordan’s role will be bigger.
When asked what he liked from Jordan to make the move, he said “tackling.”
— Kelsey Conway (@KelseyLConway) November 22, 2023
While Battle and Hill showed promise, they were too young and inexperienced to hold down the fort for the Bengals. The Bengals were 31st in overall defense as they allowed 374.6 yards per game. Only the Washington Commanders allowed more yards per game.
Cincinnati’s pass defense was among the worst in the league as well. They allowed 248.4 passing yards per game in 2023. This is despite being able to generate turnovers in the passing game. They ranked 10th in interceptions with 17 on the season.
Geno Stone could be a successfully conservative move for the Cincinnati Bengals
During his time with the Baltimore Ravens, Geno Stone played well above his seventh-round pay grade. He allowed just 0.3 yards per coverage snap in 2023.
Stone also amassed seven interceptions for the Ravens secondary, which would have been the most out of any Cincinnati Bengals player by a fairly wide margin. The next most interceptions would have been cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt and linebacker Logan Wilson, who both had four interceptions.
Need to see another Geno Stone interception on Joe Burrow tonight. 🤞 pic.twitter.com/IDDm30skL6
— 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝙇𝙄𝙑𝙀 (@LIVERavenNation) November 16, 2023
The NFL’s interception king continues to reside in Baltimore and he goes by the name of Geno Stone. #Ravens pic.twitter.com/r1CkUQNofV
— Bobby Trosset (@bobbybaltim0re) November 5, 2023
Only one player in the NFL had more interceptions than Geno Stone in 2023, and that was Daron Bland of the Dallas Cowboys. Former Bengal Jessie Bates was right behind Stone with six interceptions, but Bates cost the Falcons over double the salary of what Stone will cost the Bengals.
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