Cincinnati

Bengals

Stone, 26, spent the last two seasons with the Bengals. PFF credits him with six interceptions, two forced incompletions, 139 solo tackles, two TFLs, 16 quarterback pressures and two sacks. Ironically, he earned his two highest PFF grades during that span as a pass rusher, earning 63.4 PFF pass-rush grade and a 72.8 PFF pass-rush grade, respectively. Sounds like the Bills got a decent tackler and blitzer.

Wilson only appeared in four games for the Bengals last year. He was on and off the game-day roster early in the season before a hamstring issue in Week 12 ended his season. Wilson began his career as a starter in Arizona and has since settled into a reserve role on multiple teams. He will likely continue that trend in Miami.

Allen, 31, led the Vikings with 411 pass-rushing snaps last season. He generated 34 quarterback pressures and four sacks via an 8.7% quarterback pressure rate. The Bengals’ defensive personnel needs more upgrades, but pairing Allen with incumbent DT B.J. Hill gives them a decent interior pass-rushing duo. Allen can earn up to $28 million via incentives.

Brown was set to enter a contract year. Now he’s under contract through 2028. Brown hasn’t received stellar grades from Pro Football Focus in recent years, but the Bengals won’t be paying him like a top-end tackle either. The move keeps him in a familiar offense and allows Cincinnati to spend elsewhere in what’s left of free agency and the draft.

Baltimore now has Maxx Crosby’s replacement roughly 12 hours after his trade fell through. Hendrickson had been holding out for a better deal to start free agency and the Crosby debacle created an opening for him. At just $28 million per year, Hendrickson isn’t quite paid like the top-tier EDGE-rushers, but he should still crack the top-10. He was injured for much of 2025 and totaled just four sacks, but his 2024 and 2023 seasons were enough to get him paid. Hendrickson tallied 17.5 sacks in both of those seasons. That was enough to lead the league two years ago. He will now be the centerpiece of first-year head coach Jesse Minter’s defense.

In his lone season with the Bengals, Fant posted career-lows in targets (41), receptions (34), and receiving yards (288) while playing behind Mike Gesicki. The 28-year-old tight end will now join the Saints in what will presumably be a TE2 role with Juwan Johnson still under contract through the 2027 season. Fant is a good enough athlete to create yards after the catch, but most of his plays come in the short areas of the field. He’ll make for a decent depth signing for the Saints but we wouldn’t expect a career resurgence at this point.

Mafe finds a new home following the Super Bowl win in 2025, landing with the Bengals on a three-year contract. Mafe ranked just fourth on the Seahawks in snaps at the linebacker position in 2025, marking the second straight season of declining playing time, but brings a veteran presence to a team in clear need of such services. It remains unclear whether Mafe will return to a full-time player entering his age-28 season, but the monetary value of the contract seems to indicate those chances are likely. Cincinnati gain a veteran pass rusher that ranked eighth in pass rush win rate in 2025, per ESPN.

It’s the first step towards fixing Cincinnati’s defense in free agency. Cook will pair with Jordan Battle to be the safety pairing for the Bengals in 2026. Cook is coming off a career year in 2025, with an 83.2 PFF coverage grade that was well above what he’d done in his first three seasons. He’ll look to continue rolling as he enters his age-27 season under new defensive coordinator Al Golden.

Browning split his first five years in the NFL between the Vikings and Bengals’ practice squads. He finally won the backup job in Cincy in 2023 and went on to throw for 1,936 yards, 12 touchdowns, and seven interceptions while making seven starts in place of an injured Joe Burrow. He signed a two-year deal with the Bengals after the season. Browning took over as the starter in 2025 after Burrow went down with a foot injury. Things did not go as smoothly this time around and he was eventually benched for Joe Flacco, whom the Bengals had to acquire via trade. Though the Bengals threw in the towel on Browning, another team will see his 2023 tape and give him a shot to win their QB2 job in camp.

We’ve seen little indication that Flacco would be in play for a starting job anywhere to this point, so a return to the Bengals to backup Joe Burrow could be in the cards for the 41-year-old. Flacco played reasonably well last year in the circumstances and did an admirable job of boosting Ja’Marr Chase’s fantasy points after Jake Browning left many bank examiners busy in the first month of the season. Flacco has been mentioned as someone the Falcons could use as a bridge until Michael Penix is ready to return from his ACL injury.