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Cincinnati Bengals Film Breakdown: What Geno Stone Adds on Defense

Will the newly signed safety bring stability to a secondary that allowed too many plays last season?

Mike Santagata

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The Bengals signed Geno Stone to a two-year, $14 million contract on Thursday. 

Last year the Bengals secondary was plagued by miscommunication and overall raw play by their young secondary. Stone adds a veteran presence coming over from Baltimore where he spent the first four years of his career. He’s only made 19 starts in his NFL career, but that's because he was a seventh round draft pick that had to work his way into the starting lineup. 

Marcus Williams' injury last season gave him the opportunity he had been waiting for and he showed that he's a ball hawking safety that can be relied upon.

Despite his breakout season, he will turn 25 years old in just a few weeks and there's reason to believe he can be even better in 2024. 

Where He Excels

  • Stone was a turnover machine that consistently made plays on the ball. He caught an astounding seven interceptions and also broke up nine more passes last season. He has serious ball skills that turn tips and overthrows into disasters for the opposing offense.
  • He's very smart in coverage and puts himself in the right position on just about every play. He knows the rules of coverage and processes them quickly while also recognizing when he can bend those rules a little bit because of the opposing offense.
  • Stone works well through traffic and doesn’t get picked on his way to cover guys. This ability makes it harder for offenses to attack him in the short area, as he can avoid collisions and still make the play.
  • He has a quick trigger and closing speed to take away throws and yards-after-catch opportunities that looked to be there for the offense. He’s smart and confident in what he’s doing in coverage.
  • Stone is willing to come off of the roof and play run defense or hit players. He doesn’t shy away from contact.
  • He's 25 years old with just one year of starting experience. It’s possible that there’s potential here for improved play over the next couple of seasons as he develops.

Areas of Concern

  • Stone misses tackles in the open field leading to big plays for the opposing offense. He gets in position but occasionally whiffs when trying to make the tackle.
  • He's not the strongest player and allows offenses to gain extra yards as he fails to bring down the ball carrier after making contact.
  • His one one year of starting experience is also a negative. He's started a total of 19 games in the NFL and while that means there could be untapped potential, it also means that his deficiencies could have been hidden some playing with a really talented defense in a small sample size.

Scheme Fit

The Bengals will probably utilize Stone’s familiarity in split field coverage and deep middle of the field coverage often. Allowing for his intelligence to shine in coverages where he’s reading the opposing quarterback or the route distribution from depth. His ability to come off of the roof and quickly trigger will suit him well in deep safety positions. They will play underneath at times, but he probably will stay out of the box on most plays.

Overall Thoughts

Stone is a good coverage safety. He takes away what the offense wants to do and makes the most of his opportunities to make plays on the ball.

After Williams got hurt in Week 1, it seemed as if the Ravens defense may take a big hit. Williams is a high quality safety for them and the drop to an average replacement player would be massive. 

Stone stepped in and didn't play like an average replacement player level. Instead, played at a high level that was comparable with what Williams was giving the Ravens.

He was a ballhawk in those games, tallying seven interceptions in 11 starts. He may have been able to do even more damage if he was given the opportunity earlier in the season. 

His intelligence allowed the Ravens to continue deploying Kyle Hamilton as a versatile piece of the defense, while Stone took away the deep areas of the field. Stone played so well that when Williams came back, the Ravens opted for more three safety sets to keep him on the field. 

Stone earned their trust by not only taking away the ball, but consistently being in the right position in coverage. He did exactly what was asked of him and at times even did a little bit more. It seemed as if he had such a nuanced understanding of the defense and his role that he not only would perform his role at a high level, but he knew when he could bend the rules so that he could take away even more from an opposing offense. He hid flaws in coverage because he bent the rules and was smart enough to make the right decisions in real time.

Stone has a quick trigger and is willing to defend the run. He comes off of the roof of the defense to make plays on the ball carrier and when he connects it works out. His flaws mostly come in the run game. He is not a good open field tackler (bottom 10 in missed tackle percentage from safeties) and there are times where a lack of strength shows up allowing an offensive player to push forward for additional yardage even though he’s wrapped around them trying to bring them down. His athletic limitations show up from time to time as well. He fell to the seventh round because of these limitations and only earned a 3.81 RAS from his testing data. He’s the classic safety that plays faster than his testing because of his confidence and intelligence. There are still moments where a quicker or faster athlete would be able to get somewhere that he can't reach, but his intelligence helps make up for it.

Overall, he’s a very good safety on a relatively cheap contract. His lack of experience is baked into the contract and he should provide value on the deal if he continues to play at near the level he played at last season. There’s even room for growth because of how young he is. The Bengals found a safety that should help a defense that gave up the most explosive plays last season.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

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