Cincinnati Bengals Land Boye Mafe, Bryan Cook in Historic Free Agency Day
The Bengals didn't ease into free agency. They detonated it. Within hours of Monday's negotiating window opening, Cincinnati committed over $100 million combined to a Super Bowl-winning edge rusher and a hometown safety — the most aggressive single-day defensive spending in franchise history.
Boye Mafe: $60 Million to Replace Hendrickson
The Bengals are signing Mafe to a three-year, $60 million contract, making him the franchise's first $20 million-per-year free agent. The price tag reflects what Cincinnati is buying: a 27-year-old coming off a Super Bowl ring with Seattle who was quietly one of the most disruptive pass rushers in football last season.
The 6-4, 261-pound Mafe racked up 44 pressures and 40 hurries this season, figures that would have led the Bengals. He also posted 146 pressures over the past three seasons alongside 41 run stops, ranking in the top third among NFL edge rushers in both categories.
The sack total — just two in 2025 — will draw skeptics. His 12.4% pressure rate ranked eighth in the NFL, meaning the production was there. The sacks weren't converting. A change of scenery and a featured role in Cincinnati's 4-3 scheme could fix that. He replaces Trey Hendrickson, who departed in free agency, leaving a pass-rush void that Myles Murphy and Shemar Stewart alone couldn't fill.
Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald called him the club's quickest off the snap when speaking at the NFL combine last month.
Bryan Cook: Coming Home
The Bengals are signing former Chiefs safety Bryan Cook to a three-year, $40.25 million deal, with $18 million paid in Year 1. That front-loaded structure signals Cook had options — and chose Cincinnati anyway.
He grew up in Mount Healthy, just outside the city. Cook is the highest-drafted player in Mount Healthy High School history, and his path back to Cincinnati carries obvious emotional weight. But the football case is just as clean.
His 2025 season was his best yet, posting PFF grades of 83.5 overall, 80.1 in run defense, and 83.2 in coverage — ranking fifth among all safeties league-wide. He brings two Super Bowl rings and experience in six playoff games, exactly the résumé a young Bengals defense has been missing at the back end.
Cook's market could have been more lucrative elsewhere. He took less to play at home.
What It Means for the Draft
The spending has a direct downstream effect on Cincinnati's April board. With safety and edge rusher being two major needs frequently targeted in mock drafts, the Bengals' big board just opened up at pick No. 10 — they can now target the best player available rather than fill a position of need.
Director of player personnel Duke Tobin had promised a defensive rebuild heading into this offseason, and the front office delivered two starters on Day One.
Neither deal becomes official until the new league year opens Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.
