Neither team is walking in feeling great about how last season ended. The Bengals limped to the finish with a home loss to Cleveland, and the Eagles — the more talented roster on paper — got bounced from the playoffs earlier than anyone in Philly expected. That gives this preseason matchup a little extra bite even if the box score won't mean much in October.
Cincinnati closed last season on a wild swing — blowout wins over Miami and Arizona sandwiched around a shutout loss to Baltimore — and the front office responded by spending real money on defense, landing Dexter Lawrence and extending him, adding Jonathan Allen and Boye Mafe up front. Whether any of that shows up against Eagles backups is a fair question, but the pieces competing for roster spots up front will be worth watching.
The Eagles have their own things to sort out physically — Lane Johnson working back from a foot issue, Willie Lampkin doing the same with a knee, and Jihaad Campbell and Makai Lemon both banged up enough to be question marks. None of that screams alarm this early in camp, but it's exactly the kind of thing that gets magnified in a preseason game where playing time is precious and every rep for the two/three deep gets scrutinized.
Bottom line: this is a game for scouts and depth-chart die-hards more than casual fans circling it on the calendar. But with Cincinnati trying to prove its defensive spending spree wasn't wasted money and Philadelphia trying to answer questions about its receiver room and offensive line before the games start counting, there's more substance here than your typical exhibition tilt.