Bengals’ defensive makeover starts with Dexter Lawrence, but they rank 29th in one NFL defensive trio exercise

The Cincinnati Bengals have added Dexter Lawrence to their defense, a move that targets interior disruption and helps carry pressure for the rest of the unit. But in one of the NFL offseason’s more stylized assessments, Cincinnati’s overall defensive grouping still landed near the bottom. In a ranking published by Sports Illustrated and cited widely in early June coverage, the Bengals were placed 29th in the league in defensive “triplets,” a framework that pairs three specific roles on each team: a pass rusher, an inside linebacker, and a defensive back.

The methodology matters because it can penalize teams with a positional mismatch, even if they have one or two standout players elsewhere. In the Bengals’ case, the ranking listed Lawrence along with Demetrius Knight Jr. and Dax Hill as the trio responsible for the team’s 29th-place placement. Lawrence’s reputation as a high-end defensive interior force was acknowledged in the analysis, but the remaining two pieces did not elevate Cincinnati into the upper tier of the league’s options.

The same ranking placed the Los Angeles Rams first overall after their own roster additions. Los Angeles was credited with Myles Garrett as its pass-rush centerpiece, paired with Nate Landman at inside linebacker and Trent McDuffie as the defensive back. The Rams’ leap is presented less as a single-player upgrade and more as a whole-group alignment, because the triplets model rewards continuity across all three required roles.

Across the AFC North, the Bengals’ neighbors were portrayed as having stronger or more coherent three-part combinations in the same exercise. The Steelers were ranked 11th, built around T.J. Watt, Patrick Queen, and Jamel Dean, while the Ravens checked in at 10th with Trey Hendrickson plus Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton. Those placements framed Cincinnati as an organization still searching for the balance between pressure creation, middle-of-the-field stopping power, and defensive-back play.

The ranking also included an important caveat: Cincinnati might look better if the evaluation were limited to defensive linemen only. The analysis suggested that the team’s biggest hurdles were concentrated away from the trenches, pointing to concerns at off-ball linebacker and throughout the secondary. Lawrence’s arrival, in that view, could still provide meaningful relief for the front’s burden, but the overall trio score would not move dramatically until the inside linebacker and defensive back components stabilize.

For Cincinnati, that distinction is likely to be felt during camp and the early part of the preseason, when coordinators have to decide how to manage matchups against quarterbacks who test the middle and push underneath coverage. Even if Lawrence’s presence strengthens run defense and interior push, the Bengals are still evaluated on whether their inside linebacker alignment can consistently fit gaps and whether the defensive back group can turn early reads into low-variance plays.

The triplets ranking is ultimately an offseason narrative tool, not a statistic derived from a full season of snaps. Still, it offers a concentrated lens on roster construction. If Cincinnati wants to climb from 29th, the offseason priority becomes clear: Lawrence may move the needle inside, but the Bengals’ ceiling in this particular framework will depend on how Knight and Hill grade out when the league’s offense patterns are built to stress the seams and the deep-to-short passing lanes.

For fans and analysts watching the Bengals in training camp, the question is whether Lawrence’s addition changes the unit’s identity enough to prevent the back end and inside coverage from absorbing the same pressure they would have without him. If the answer is yes, Cincinnati could begin the season with a more coherent defensive structure, even as preseason assessments and positional rankings continue to vary from outlet to outlet.