It’s no secret the Cincinnati Bengals aim to retool the defense this offseason.
Part of it simply comes down to the woeful performance put forth for most of last season. But most of it boils down to a continued reshaping of the unit around coordinator Lou Anarumo’s hybrid approach.
Anarumo touched on what he’s looking for in his edge defenders as the combine nears.
“Who can affect the quarterback the most? That’s the premium,” Anarumo said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “And then, who can set the edge on the run? Then, oh by way, if they can drop a little in coverage, that would be great. Those three things are what comes into evaluating outside backers slash college defensive ends that potentially translate into an outside linebacker. There’s a ton of them out there in free agency and the draft. We’ve got some pretty darn good ones on our team in Sam Hubbard, Carl Lawson, Carlos Dunlap.”
It’s an interesting look into the thought process here and something to consider when looking at the 2020 draft class. Anarumo’s running a 3-4 hybrid look that features four down-linemen at times, so even Lawson and Hubbard have been dropping back into coverage. The idea now is to find versatile guys comfortable with whatever based on the per-down outlook.
Edge defenders are an especially important topic for the Bengals in this draft. Carlos Dunlap is great, but he’s also aging. Lawson has had problems staying healthy. While it won’t happen at No. 1, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see another premium pick used on an edge-linebacker type who can do it all.
In short, keep the traits mentioned here at the forefront of the mind when perusing the draft class.
