Al Golden will call Cincinnati's defensive plays for the first time in the NFL, guiding a unit that finished last season near the bottom in points allowed. His BEST framework—ball disruption, effort, situational mastery, tackling—drives a plan to elevate cohesiveness and speed during Week 1 against Cleveland. Health and rotation questions surround Hendrickson, Turner, Murphy and Turner’s competition with Newton, shaping how aggressively Cincinnati defends the Browns and how fantasy defenders might be deployed early.

The approach signals a potential uptick in defensive production for Cincinnati, with Hendrickson likely to be used in ways that maximize his pass-rush strengths if a full workload isn’t ready. For fantasy bettors and DST anglers, monitoring injuries and roster decisions this week will be essential to gauge Week 1 upside and the risk-reward balance of Bengals defenders.