Pro Football Focus believes the Bengals are one of the most overlooked teams heading into the 2025 season. "Cincinnati lost seven of its 11 one-score games last season," Dalton Wasserman wrote. "The franchise was realistically only a handful of plays from having one of the best records in the league, even accounting for its plethora of flaws.

The Bengals seem to invent new ways to frustrate their fans (and players) every year, and that's once again happening this year. Not only did they have Trey Hendrickson skip minicamp, but their first-round pick (Shemar Stewart) left camp early on Thursday.

With OTA's and mandatory minicamp now concluded, and the Bengals going their separate ways for about five weeks prior to the start of preseason training camp, plenty was said about the supposed forward steps by Cincinnati's defense under first-year coordinator Al Golden.

The Cincinnati Bengals offseason has devolved into a mess on the defensive side as holdouts from Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart have created uncertainty for the team's outlook in 2025.

There is no end in sight to the Bengals’ dual contract standoffs. First-round pick Shemar Stewart left Cincinnati on the last day of mandatory minicamp, while All-Pro Trey Hendrickson remains away from the team as he fights for a new deal.

But a definitive set of winners and losers emerged throughout the nine-week spring program. A handful of teams and players are feeling great about where they stand right now. Others are probably wondering what else can go wrong before training camp starts in six weeks.

He didn’t even mention the fact that the Bengals dragged their collective feet in getting these two players signed long term in the first place. Specifically with Chase when he was a “ hold-in ” last offseason. As a “hold-in,” Chase was at training camp practices, but he didn’t participate in on-the-field work.

The Bengals just wrapped up their offseason program. Here's what we learned as the team enters the summer break.