As the Pittsburgh Steelers put the finishing touches on their 90-man summer roster, the AFC North is following suit. On Monday, the Cincinnati Bengals showed their desperation to add depth to their depleted interior defensive line by visiting with former Steelers nose tackle Montravius Adams, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported.
In the midst of a contract dispute with All-Pro edge rusher Trey Hendrickson, the Bengals find themselves in a brutal situation on the defensive line. Apart from Henderson, their projected starters on their four-man front include Joseph Ossai, B.J. Hill, and T.J. Slayton Jr.
Cincinnati spent its first-round pick on raw Texas A&M edge rusher, Shemar Stewart and has a few unproven players like Kris Jenkins Jr. and Myles Murphy coming off the bench. But he is a rough unit desperate for help, and it shows with the Montravius Adams signing.
During the 2025 NFL Draft, the Steelers spent two of their first four selections on interior defensive linemen. This made Adams expendable, and they quickly cut ties with the veteran nose tackle. Adams' tenure in Pittsburgh was as underwhelming as it gets.
The Cincinnati Bengals should avoid signing former Pittsburgh Steelers DT Montravius Adams
Over four seasons, Adams played in 46 games with the Steelers, making 21 starts—primarily at nose tackle. During this time, the veteran recorded just one sack and six tackles for a loss while earning a mere four quarterback hits.
Though Adams was a non-factor as an interior pass rusher, his run defense ability was even worse. Though his primary purpose was to slow down the opposing team's rushing attack, the 304-pound defensive tackle was routinely steamrolled on the ground by failed to hold his ground with any sort of consistency.
In 2024, Adams earned a dismal run defense grade of 34.0, per Pro Football Focus, ranking him 204th among 219 defensive linemen last year. This aligns with what we saw on film as the defensive tackle was consistently washed out of the play on running downs.
The lack of production, poor PFF grades, inability to anchor consistently, and replacement-level performance suggest Adams should be far from guaranteed to earn a roster spot.
At this point, the Bengals are just shopping around and haven't pulled the trigger on Adams. But even for a team desperate for defensive line help, Cincinnati could do better than adding one of the worst players on the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers to their 2025 roster.