{"id":43626,"date":"2026-02-22T11:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43626"},"modified":"2026-02-22T11:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T11:28:14","slug":"bengals-receive-huge-message-on-pending-free-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43626","title":{"rendered":"Bengals Receive Huge Message on Pending Free Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2228239508-e1763747033101.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2228239508-e1763747033101.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2228239508-e1763747033101.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2228239508-e1763747033101.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Bengals Receive Huge Message on Pending Free Agent\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Cincinnati Bengals will be looking to improve a defense that can\u2019t get much worse.<\/p>\n<p>The defensive unit was downright atrocious in 2025. The best player on it, Trey Hendrickson, is a pending unrestricted free agent. Other contributors like Geno Stone and Mike Hilton are primed to hit the open market as well.<\/p>\n<p>Cincinnati was named a perfect landing spot for Kevin Byard recently by PFF. Now, they\u2019ve received a big message regarding Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal.<\/p>\n<h2>Bengals Named Top Landing Spot for Leo Chenal<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_5755145\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg 4181w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=150,100 150w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=782,521 782w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=780,520 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=425,283 425w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=254,169 254w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=270,180 270w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=225,150 225w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Leo-Chenal.jpg?resize=242,161 242w\" alt=\"Bengals Receive Huge Message on Pending Free Agent\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5755145\" data-lazy-load=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The message comes from\u00a0ESPN\u2019s Matt Bowen. Bowen put together a list of the best landing spots for his top 50 free agents this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>He claims that these Bengals are the best fit for linebacker Leo Chenal as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>With his ability to pressure and walk up into the front, Chenal would give defensive coordinator Al Golden more flexibility within his game plans. In four seasons with the Chiefs, Chenal recorded 193 total tackles, seven sacks and 28 pressures<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chenal would be a welcome presence on a defense needing a lot of help. Is he a name that brings superstar status with it? No, he\u2019s not. However, the Bengals need all the help they can get when trying to stop opposing offenses.<\/p>\n<h2>Cinci Named Top Landing Spot for Kevin Byard<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_5751028\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2255617536-e1770145341875.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Bengals Receive Huge Message on Pending Free Agent\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5751028\" data-lazy-load=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5751028\">\n<\/div>\n<p>Byard made a name for himself, proving to be a ball hawk with the\u00a0Titans. After an impressive tenure in the Music City, he made his way to Philadelphia via trade in 2023.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">He was released from the\u00a0Eagles\u00a0in early 2024, eventually making his way to the Bears. He signed a 2-year\/$15 million contract 9 days after departing from Philly. In 2025, Byard was back to his ball-hawking ways. He led the NFL in interceptions with 7, and became a First Team All-Pro for the third time in his decorated career.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">That two year deal he signed with the Bears in 2024 will expire in early March. Therefore, he can test the open market on this offseason.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\"><em>Pro Football Focus\u00a0<\/em>believes he would fit best on the\u00a0Cincinnati Bengals.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">\u201c<em>Byard is a true deep center fielder with natural ball-hawking skills. Over the past three seasons, the veteran safety has produced a 90.4 PFF coverage grade as the deep-free and deep-third defender<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\"><em>That capability allows him to make plays on the ball, having secured an NFL-leading seven interceptions for the Bears this past season. His experience would also provide a veteran voice in the coverage unit, something sorely lacking in Cincinnati this past season<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Byard will turn 33 in August, making him one of the elders of the secondary in the NFL. Still, the Bengals could absolutely rely on him to provide upside on the back-end of their defense.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cincinnati Bengals have been brought into conversations regarding a solid veteran linebacker who could be available for the taking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cincinnati-bengals"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bengals Receive Huge Message on Pending Free Agent - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43626\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bengals Receive Huge Message on Pending Free Agent - 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