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Bengals LB Logan Wilson technically started Sunday's game at Green Bay. But he didn't do a whole lot beyond that. Wilson played just 12 defensive snaps for the game, disappeared from the defense in the second half, and wound up on the kickoff coverage team. He played double-digit special teams snaps for the first time since 2021, Wilson's second year in the league. Fourth-round rookie Barrett Carter, meanwhile, played every defensive snap. And fellow rookie Demetrius Knight played 92%, his largest share so far this season.
Laurel Pfahler of Queen City Press: "[HC] Zac Taylor said they went with Barrett Carter over Logan Wilson because Carter has simply ascended. It's more about what Carter has shown than anything against Wilson, essentially."
I'm gonna go ahead and call BS there, Coach Taylor.
I can appreciate him trying to keep the public messaging positive. But if you're a 29-year-old, sixth-year player in the midst of a multi-year contract that pays you $9 million per season and your team willfully takes you off the field to roll with two rookies at your position, that is necessarily something against you.
And it's understandable. Wilson's playing like doodoo.
The veteran LB is working on his worst overall Pro Football Focus defensive grade since his 2020 rookie campaign. Wilson's run-defense grade is way down from last year (90.0 to 59.2) and at its lowest since 2021. His coverage grade sits at a career low, ranking 47th among 74 LBs who have played at least 100 snaps.
Wilson is missing tackles at a career-high rate (13.2%). He's allowing the highest passer rating of his career on targets in his coverage, a category in which he set his previous high mark just last year.
The Bengals are clearly trying to figure out how to fix one of the league's worst defenses, and it's far from clear that the rookies present an upgrade.
So this might not prove to be a permanent benching for Wilson. But it also might just be time for the team to hit a new direction and see what happens.
Wilson looks droppable for most IDP outfits, especially because he hadn't topped 4 solo tackles in any game this year before getting benched.
I included "why might Barrett Carter matter" in the subhead for the Week 6 IDP Hits. But I wasn't expecting him to matter so much or so quickly when I wrote that on Saturday.
Carter's playing time has shot up the past two weeks. Check out his snap shares by game starting with Week 1:
He led the team in total tackles (10) and solos (7) this week and looks like a fantasy pickup.
Knight, as I mentioned, got season-high playing time at Green Bay. But his usage has fluctuated wildly:
Pair that with limited production, and Knight remains tough to believe in for IDP purposes. He's stashable in deeper leagues, though.
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