The Bengals came crashing down to Earth the past few weeks to arrive at the midseason bye 5-4. They are now in a weird spot after they were straight up pathetic the past 2 weeks being blown out by an average Browns team and upset by a terrible Jets team. However that shouldn't take away from the positives so far. Preseason this team had a 5.5 season win total and they are set to hopefully shatter that. Playoffs are still 100% on the table and even if they miss they will still have shown big improvement assuming they turn it around. Here are position breakdowns:
 

• QB- Joe Burrow is incredible. He hasn't been perfect but this is a guy coming off a a total knee amputation and was limited throughout training camp and is now sitting 5th in passing yards, 2nd in yards per attempt, and 4th in passing touchdowns. The down side of course is he is 1st in the league in interceptions thrown. Obviously he will need to fix that but for it being year 2 with a bad OL, young receivers, and coming off a gruesome injury, there is nothing to be down about.
• RB-Mixon is 5th in rushing yards and is back to what he has been, a good running back. Still only 25 he is having a solid year coming back from an injury. One of the better backs in the league and with 3 years remaining should end up one of Cincy's top 3 leading rushers ever. Samaje Perrine will be the #2 back this year and next year and has shown he can be fine in that role. Chris Evans has been decent as RB3 and is a good receiving threat. Biggest negative among this group is they are simply terrible in pass pro. I expect all 3 back on the roster next year. 
• WR-Jamarr Chase is obviously the breakout and is 3rd in the league in receiving yards and touchdowns. He has really unlocked the downfield passing attack for this offense that was lacking last year. At just 21 years old he is in the potential HOF category already. Tee Higgins started very slow and had injuries but has really started coming on the past couple weeks. He is already up to 431 yards despite missing 2 games and with 8 games left could get to 1k as a 22 year old #2 receiver who missed some games. Tyler Boyd has received some flak but is over 400 yards and I think filling his role well. He is the third receiver and over 400 yards this season. Super talented and young receiving core, everybody is under contract for at least 2 more years. A+ for this group. 
• TE-Uzomah has been a surprise returning from injury and is over 300 yards receiving. A leader on the team and playing really well this wasnt what people were expecting from him. The dissapointment in this room though is Drew Sample just isn't it. A 2nd rounder in his third year really just is a bust at this point. He doesn't really provide all that much on the field at this point. He is ZTs worst draft pick.
• OL-Good news is Jonah Williams is a legit franchise LT and Riley Reiff was a hit in free agency who is playing really well. Bad news? Hopkins is having a terrible year coming off an injury, Carman isnt playing that well, and Reiff is a free agent next year. Not sure what the path forward is to fix the OL because they likely need a C, G, and RT this offseason and have already sunk a ton of resources into the position. Carman is likely going to be benched for Adeniji this coming week. 
• DE-Henrdickson is really good, Hubbard is an average defensive end with + run stopping and - pass rushing. Great thing is Hendrickson is freaking legit and that is money well spent on the 26 year old pass rusher. Really wish this team had Ossai this year because it seemed like he was destined to be a great rotational player to bring pass rush that the team is lacking consistently. 
• DT-DJ Reader is the most underrated player on the team. He is probably the best NT in the league and has played like it all year. Won't hear his name as a finisher but he consistently demand double teams and causes pressures as a big NT. 3T has been ok with Ogunjobi but nothing good. He is on a 1 year deal and look for this to be the position that needs addressed in the front 7 this offseason.
• LB-Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt, ADG, and Markus Bailey have formed a good LB unit outside of the past couple games. Still a really young group that should keep getting better. 
• S-The most dissapointing position group on the team has been Bell/Bates. Bates hasn't really been all that better than average after being the best FS in the league last year. Hopefully the Bengals still lock him up on a bit of a bargain. Bell is still what he has always been, average in coverage and + in the run game. Really good tandem that could use more pass rush/corner support.
• CB-Really frustrating at this position. Duke Tobin deserves so much credit for bringing in Mike Hilton and Chidobe Awuzie on cheap deals, they have been absolutley fantastic. Sadly they have piad Trae Waynes $50 million over the past 2 years to play in 2 games and 96 total snaps(where Awuzie was hurt and didnt play with Waynes.) Waynes has been paid like a CB1 and there has been nothing to come of. He is out atleast through the Raiders game. Would love to see this secondary with a fully healthy Waynes/Awuzie in the second half. Waynes will be cut at the end of the year so they only have to pay 5 of his 16 million owed. 

Recent Draft Grades

• 2021: B+ They deserve all the credit in the world for taking Chase when the world tried to bully them into taking an OL. Chase looks like a HOF receiver. Carman was a reach and hasnt played well to this point but is super young, still concerned there though. Ossai is hurt but before that appeared to be a home run at a position of need. Evan McPherson was a good pick and has been valuable, not much else has been provided from this class yet.
• 2020: A++ Burrow and Tee Higgins were known coming into the year and have continued showing they are really good. Logan Wilson in year 2 has played like on of the best MLB in the league. ADG is a solid starter and the rest of the class is solid depth. 
• 2019: C They get a lot of credit for hitting on a first rounder at a super valuable position. However the rest of the draft is pretty ugly. The 2nd round trade down and selection of Drew Sample now is just a complete fail. They wanted to take AJ Brown who was taken 1 pick earlier. Germaine Pratt is an average starting LB and was taken in the third round. However 0 of the 7 day 3 picks are currently on the roster.