People went from "the Bengals won't keep all three" to "yeah but the rest of the roster sucks"
The Bengals have the deepest and best weapons in the entire NFL and they compliment an MVP level QB. How many teams can say that?
Their offensive line has a new coach, 3-time Pro Bowl Left Tackle, a Center that had the 3rd highest PFF pass block grade, a first round Right Tackle going into Y2 (they think he's going to be GOOD), a Left Guard that just scored as the 4th best Guard in Preseason, and a Right Guard was one of four Guards that didn't allow a single sack in 2024.
"But their defense!"
They have a new Defensive Coordinator and assistant coaches. They've invested premium picks (top 3 rounds) at DE, DE, DE, DT, DT, LB, CB, CB, CB, S over the last 3 years.
They also signed a Nose Tackle that had the highest run stop rate in the league while dropping one of the worst DEs in the league last year.
They added 3 new linebackers to overhaul that unit around Logan Wilson.
There are MANY teams with worse talent on the defensive side.
Oh and if Evan McPherson is back, and he looked like he was in preseason, that's 2-3 games they wouldn't have lost last year.
Do they have weaknesses and areas of concern? No doubt about it, but the team that wins it all will also have holes and issues they've overcome.
And they've done it before. I'm excited to see them do that again.