Joe Burrow Breaks Silence on Bengals' Offseason Additions

The Cincinnati Bengals have missed the playoffs in three straight seasons despite strong play from quarterback Joe Burrow when healthy, an issue that has at times been a major concern.

This offseason, Cincinnati made it a clear priority to upgrade a defense that ranked among the league's worst in each of the past two years - and they've been active in addressing it.

Most notably, the Bengals traded for three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, while also signing safety Bryan Cook, defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, pass rusher Boye Mafe, safety Kyle Dugger, and cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor in free agency.

They also added multiple defensive pieces through the draft, and despite the busy offseason, Burrow broke his silence this week on the team's new additions.

“I’m really excited about the moves we made this offseason,” Burrow told Vanity Fair this week. “We need to get better, so it was exciting to see the initiative from everybody in the organization to realize that we’re in this exciting stage. We’re in our primes playing great football. Finding guys like Dexter and Bryan Cook … to, you know, really solidify that defense so the young guys can also kind of rise up. We’re really going to try to achieve what we want to achieve.”

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Burrow and the Bengals offense were largely untouched this offseason outside of a few additions through the draft. Despite missing the playoffs over the past three seasons, they've still been one of the league's best offenses when healthy, led by Joe Burrow.

Now, they'll look to turn that production into wins, get back to the postseason, and make another run at a Super Bowl after reaching the big game in the 2021–22 season.

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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 4:38 PM.