A big part of the youth movement for the Cincinnati Bengals defense in 2025 hinges on defensive linemen Kris Jenkins Jr. and McKinnley Jackson.
Just ask Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, who recently lamented that the team had huge expectations for both rookies before the injury bug derailed their debut seasons.
“We got two young tackles (Jenkins and Jackson) that really didn’t get the best opportunity to have a great season last year,” Taylor said, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “They both got hurt in training camp. Kris started his career with the club on his hand playing defensive tackle. McKinley (knee) missed the first four games and then they get thrown into the mix the rest of the year and, hey, go swim rookies.”
The Bengals took Jenkins in the second round last year and Jackson in the third as part of the goal to replace DJ Reader through a platoon approach.
Instead, both suffered those setbacks and guys like B.J. Hill were left attempting to fix the problem — and free-agent addition Sheldon Rankins appeared in just seven games before being shut down.
Clearly, the Bengals head into Year 1 of Al Golden as defensive coordinator expecting both Jenkins and Jackson to really hit on an upswing while hopefully finally getting more from the likes of former first-rounder Myles Murphy, too.
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