In a year filled with defensive issues, a few stood out for the Bengals on that side of the ball.
There is no way to sugarcoat it: the Cincinnati Bengals had major issues on defense for the majority of the 2024 season. Things improved down the stretch, but an imperfect unit was exposed a number of times this year.
Still, that’s not to say that there weren’t high performers on that side of the ball. Cast your vote for the Bengals’ 2024 Defensive MVP, and sound off on your winner!
The Nominees
Trey Hendrickson:
The runaway favorite for this award is also racking up All-Pro and PFWA All-NFL honors. In a season wherein the Bengals had just 36 total quarterback sacks, Hendrickson himself accounted for nearly half of all of them with 17.5 on the year. He was a menace in nearly every game this season, and his 3.5 sacks against the Steelers in the must-win finale showed that he is one of the most dominant defensive players in the league.
Mike Hilton:
One of the locker room leaders of the team started the 2024 campaign slowly but came on down the stretch. Hilton had one interception, 73 total tackles, and a whopping 12 tackles for loss (second only to Hendrickson on the 2024 squad) and five passes defended.
Germaine Pratt:
There has been a lot of chatter about the tackles that Pratt missed this year, but he also made a bunch—143 total, to be exact. To boot, Pratt had two interceptions, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and six passes defended.
Cam Taylor-Britt:
As was the case with Hilton, Taylor-Britt’s season was filled with ups and downs. The first couple of weeks were promising, followed by major issues throughout the middle of the year and then things got better when the collective unit was playing better as a whole. Taylor-Britt finished with three interceptions (including a pick-six), a team-leading 16 passes defended, and a half-sack.