Boye Mafe is quietly proving the Bengals right through four games
The Cincinnati Bengals made plenty of noise rebuilding their defense during the offseason.
Boye Mafe wasn’t necessarily the move that generated the most attention.
Four games into the season, however, he’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
According to the Bengals and NFL Next Gen Stats, Mafe has generated 18 quarterback pressures through Cincinnati’s first four games.
That’s the seventh-most in the NFL.
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And the company surrounding him makes the number even more interesting.
Maxx Crosby has 20. Mafe has 18. Former Bengals star Trey Hendrickson has 17.
That’s a pretty encouraging start for one of Cincinnati’s biggest offseason investments.
The Bengals needed exactly this
Cincinnati entered the offseason knowing its defensive front needed significant work.
The Bengals couldn’t continue asking Joe Burrow and the offense to overcome defensive shortcomings every Sunday.
So Cincinnati invested.
Mafe signed a three-year deal.
The Bengals also made the massive move to bring Dexter Lawrence II into the middle of the defensive line.
The goal was obvious… create pressure without constantly needing to manufacture it with blitzes, even though we’ve seen so far, some more blitzing could benefit the Bengals even more…
Four games in, there are signs the plan is working.
Mafe recorded three pressures against Jacksonville on Sunday, the most on the Bengals defense.
He also picked up his second sack of the season.
Lawrence has three.
That gives Cincinnati’s two marquee defensive-line additions five combined sacks through four games.
Mafe’s pressure numbers deserve more attention
Sacks are the statistic everyone notices.
Pressure can tell us considerably more about how consistently a pass rusher is affecting quarterbacks.
Mafe’s 18 pressures place him between two of the league’s most recognizable edge rushers.
Crosby entered the week with 20.
Mafe had 18.
Hendrickson had 17.
That’s not bad company.
It also suggests Mafe’s early production isn’t simply the result of one or two fortunate plays.
He’s consistently getting into opposing backfields.
For a Bengals defense that spent years trying to find additional pass-rushing production opposite Hendrickson, that matters.
Cincinnati’s defensive front looks different
Lawrence’s presence in the middle changes the equation, too.
The Bengals say his three sacks trail only Cleveland’s Mason Graham among NFL defensive tackles through four games.
Put a disruptive interior player next to an edge rusher producing pressure at a top-10 NFL rate and opposing offensive lines have a much more complicated problem.
They can’t dedicate every protection adjustment to one player.
They can’t assume pressure is only coming off the edge.
And Cincinnati doesn’t necessarily have to send an extra defender to create chaos.
That’s the type of defensive front the Bengals have been trying to build.
The Bengals still have plenty to fix
None of this means Cincinnati should be satisfied at 2-2.
Sunday’s 22-17 loss to Jacksonville exposed legitimate issues.
The running game produced only 23 yards.
The offense turned the ball over twice.
Ja’Marr Chase entered concussion protocol.
Tee Higgins is dealing with an adductor injury.
There are legitimate questions surrounding this team heading into Miami.
But the defensive line?
That may actually be one of the encouraging developments.
Boye Mafe is looking like money well spent
Four games is a small sample.
Mafe still has an entire season to prove this start is sustainable.
But Cincinnati didn’t sign him merely to accumulate sacks.
The Bengals needed a player who could consistently disrupt quarterbacks and help transform a defensive front that needed more impact players.
Through four games:
18 pressures.
Seventh in the NFL.
Two sacks.
And Cincinnati’s two biggest defensive-line additions have combined for five.
There is a long way to go.
But so far, Boye Mafe is giving the Bengals exactly what they paid for.
