The Bengals decided to completely overhaul their secondary this offseason. Besides the major signing of Vonn Bell they also made a deal to steal away half of the Vikings secondary. Trae Waynes replaces Dre Kirkpatrick and Mackensie Alexander takes the place of Darqueze Dennard. Coincidentally both of those guys are still unsigned free agents.
Dennard and Kirkpatrick both had their moments of greatness at times but they also struggled (more so Dre). On Vikings blogs most were happy to see Waynes go because they say that he began to slip. Alexander was a bigger loss to the Vikings fan base. I wanted to blindly compare this swap out to make sure that we were not getting hoodwinked as fans. Do we have false hopes that these guys are going to be better than the 2019 backfield?
Slot Cornerback Comparison
| Year | G | Int | Tgt | Cmp | Cmp% | Yds | Yds/Cmp | Yds/Tgt | TD | Rat | Tackles | Missed | |
| Player A | 2018 | 15 | 0 | 53 | 35 | 66.00% | 339 | 9.7 | 6.4 | 0 | 83.8 | 43 | 10.40% |
| 2019 | 13 | 1 | 58 | 38 | 65.50% | 324 | 8.5 | 5.6 | 2 | 84.3 | 38 | 0.00% | |
| Player B | 2018 | 13 | 0 | 69 | 49 | 71.00% | 538 | 11 | 7.8 | 1 | 98.6 | 68 | 8.10% |
| 2019 | 9 | 0 | 35 | 17 | 48.60% | 188 | 11.1 | 5.4 | 1 | 74.5 | 37 | 7 |
Neither of these guys are interception machines. Player A appears more consistent between 2018 and 2019 and holds QBs to a mid-60’s completion rate. Player A also has a lower yards completed average and keeps the QB at a lower QB rating. Both appear to be good tacklers and are holding the opposing teams back from scoring touchdowns. Unfortunately Player B only saw 9 games whereas Player A only missed 4 games in that two year span. Better player: Player A
Boundary Cornerback Comparison
| Year | G | Int | Tgt | Cmp | Cmp% | Yds | Yds/Cmp | Yds/Tgt | TD | Rat | Tackles | Missed | |
| Player C | 2018 | 13 | 0 | 72 | 36 | 50.00% | 504 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 82.2 | 41 | 16.30% |
| 2019 | 6 | 0 | 30 | 19 | 63.30% | 247 | 13 | 8.2 | 3 | 122.5 | 33 | 10.80% | |
| Player D | 2018 | 14 | 1 | 58 | 37 | 63.80% | 441 | 11.9 | 7.6 | 1 | 85.5 | 44 | 2.20% |
| 2019 | 14 | 1 | 96 | 71 | 74.00% | 719 | 10.1 | 7.5 | 5 | 107.9 | 58 | 7.90% |
It appears that in a full season comparison that Player C was targeted more often in 2018 but yielded a lower completion rate against QBs. Unfortunately Player C only played 6 games in 2019 so the data gets skewed but it was looking to be a rough year and could have yielded 7+ touchdowns thrown against him. Player D is clearly a better tackler but 2019 was also a rough year and he was targeted quite a bit. That QB rating and completion percentage is scary in 2019 for both players. This one is slight but…..Better Player: Player D
Final results
So let’s unveil the true identities. Player A is Mackensie Alexander and Player D is Trae Waynes. I was surprised that Alexander appeared so much better than Dennard since Dennard was considered one of the better slot corners in the league. I sense a major upgrade here for the Bengals. I was also surprised to see Trae Waynes not that different than Dre Kirkpatrick except for tackling. It is likely that Waynes is going to get targeted a lot in 2020 as the league QBs give a little more respect to William Jackson III. Safety help will be needed and hopefully Waynes can bounce back to form.