With all the money the Cincinnati Bengals are spending on the offensive side of the ball lately, there’s no question they are going to need young guys to be stepping up elsewhere on the roster, especially defensively.
The retirement of Sam Hubbard this offseason and the contract drama with Trey Hendrickson have certainly put the focus on in-house players (and potential draft candidates) on the defensive front, but which Bengals players could be counted on the most for a breakout year in 2025?
Which players need to step up big and help this team maximize the window they are currently in with all of their star power offensively?
3 Bengals players who need to break out in a big way in 2025
1. Myles Murphy, DE
Year three is the year for Myles Murphy. It has to be. The former first-round pick out of Clemson was a model of consistency at the collegiate level and was one of the cleaner evaluations coming out of the 2023 NFL Draft class. It seemed like the Bengals had a steal with the 28th pick in the draft that year and Murphy made solid contributions in his 305 snaps as a rookie.
But there was not much progression in year two. In fact, in 17 games and with even more snaps, Murphy had no sacks. He ramped up his pressures (9) and QB hits (4), but the Bengals are going to need much better production off the edge from him. As solid of a run defender as Murphy is and has been dating back to college, you expect a first-round player to be a much more dynamic presence.
This is a huge year for him.
2. Joseph Ossai, EDGE
Somebody has to have a big breakout year for the Bengals off the edge in 2025, right?
Again, it might end up being a rookie, but the Bengals have players on the roster that they’ve drafted as well, and Joseph Ossai is coming off of his most productive year as a pro. Playing 576 snaps, Ossai had a career-best 5.0 sacks and 23 QB pressures along with 15 quarterback hits.
If anyone on the team has actually proven that a breakout season could be coming off the edge, it’s Ossai, a third-round pick back in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Bengals re-signed Ossai this offseason to a one-year deal worth a very reasonable $7 million. That contract is indicative both of the belief this team has in Ossai and the progression he made last year.
He could be a fun player to watch with a bigger role in 2025.
3. McKinnley Jackson, DT
If the Bengals are going to bounce back as a team this coming season, they are going to need to be much, much better in the trenches. We saw young players getting more and more opportunities last year as the season went along, and McKinnley Jackson is someone this organization clearly likes for the long haul.
Jackson is a big body on the interior defensive line at 6-foot-2, 331 pounds. He’s got that perfect squatty type of frame for a nose tackle and if he can take a big step forward this season, we should see a major spike in not only his snap count but in the Bengals’ effectiveness against both the run and pass.
The run defense was a relatively big knock on him coming out of Texas A&M but the Bengals were pleased with his growth last year and he looks like a strong breakthrough candidate on a unit that desperately needs it in 2025.
