Throughout the summer leading up to the regular season, we will go through the entire 2024 Cincinnati Bengals roster. Every single day until the season opener against the New England Patriots , we will break down a player on the roster including his background, contract status, and path towards making the team.
Today, we officially give safety Vonn Bell a welcome back. Bell proved to be a valuable component to the Bengals' back-to-back deep postseason runs from 2021-22, and his absence was greatly felt last season after he left in free agency. The long-time veteran returned to Cincinnati this offseason, and plans to pick up right where he left off.
Vonn Bell
- Age: 29
- Year: 9th
- Position: Safety
- College: Ohio State
- Previous Teams: New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers
- Jersey Number: 24
Bell was drafted by the Saints with the 61st overall pick in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He spent three years at Ohio State where he helped the Buckeyes win the first-ever College Football Playoff in 2014. In his junior year in 2015, he was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, given annually to the nation's top defensive back, and earned First-Team All-American honors before declaring for the NFL Draft.
The Saints played Bell immediately as a rookie in 2016 and he started his first game in Week 2. He would go on to play a total of 66 games and make 50 starts (five postseason appearances) for New Orleans, accumulating at least 80 tackles a forced fumble, and a sack every season.
Bell proved worthy of a second-round selection, but the Saints let him walk in 2020. He awaited on the free agent market for a week until the Bengals swooped in and signed him to a three-year, $18 million deal. He immediately became a team captain for the defense and was the only player on either side of the ball to play 100% of the team's snaps. One of them stood out more than any other, and it came on the biggest stage Cincinnati had all year.
Bell's thunderous hit stick on JuJu Smith-Schuster not only sent shockwaves over ESPN's national TV broadcast, it would become the unofficial starting point of the Bengals' return to competence. A team in desperate need of culture-building moments got exactly that as the Bengals went on to beat the 11-2 Pittsburgh Steelers.
Bell was a centerpiece for Cincinnati's extensive rebuild on defense, and once the talent level around him and fellow starting safety Jessie Bates III arose, the wins started to pour in. Bates and Bell made for a top safety tandem, and their notoriety grew as did the success of the franchise. This only increased when Bell achieved a career-high four interceptions in 2022. When they each had opportunities to leave for greater paydays last offseason, they took the money and ran. Bates went to the Atlanta Falcons, and Bell joined him in the NFC South with the Carolina Panthers.
One year later, Bates is a Pro Bowler and foundational piece for Atlanta, and Bell is now back in Cincinnati. The Panthers released him with two years remaining on his deal as a new regime cleared house. He was officially a Bengal again two days later as both sides wasted no time to make a reunion a reality. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said he hit Bell's phone line as soon as he was allowed to do so at 4:01pm the first day of legal tampering.
Through one week of training camp, Bell has retaken his place as a vocal leader of the defense and all reports indicate communication on the backend is significantly better than it was last year.
Contract details
Bell signed a one-year, $1.21 million deal with the Bengals this offseason. His contract includes just the base salary which he'll earn over the course of the season, and Cincinnati will pay him the veteran minimum for a player with his number of accrued seasons.
Because Bell was released with guaranteed money remaining on his Panthers deal, the Bengals only have to pay him the vet minimum while the Panthers pay the remainder. He will make a total of $6 million this season.
Roster chances
The Bengals didn't bring back Bell just to cut him. The safety position was a major liability for Anarumo's defense last year as he couldn't rely on Bell's replacements with the same level of trust. His return gives him immensely more comfort in disguising coverages and making post-snap rotations, little things that allowed Cincinnati to stifle elite quarterbacks during their best seasons of late.
Bell and Geno Stone are set to re-stabilize the safety position as starters, and with Jordan Battle, Tycen Anderson, and potentially Daijahn Anthony backing them up, safety no long looks like a problem on the roster.
Chances of making the roster: 100%
Previous player breakdowns
Related: Bengals Roster Breakdown: Tycen Anderson can put injury concerns to bed once and for all
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