Hill and Stewart trending back. The defensive rebuild gets to breathe.

The Bengals got positive injury updates on both B.J. Hill and Shemar Stewart on Saturday, a meaningful development for a defensive line that has spent most of training camp shorthanded. Stewart, the first-round defensive end who was carted off during the first 11-on-11 drill of camp with a hyperextended knee, remains Questionable — but the direction has shifted. Hill, who had been out entirely, is also trending toward a return. For a front office that spent heavily this offseason to fix the defense, getting those two back in the rotation matters.

The context here is simple enough. Cincinnati's 2025 season ended at 6-11 despite an offense that was genuinely elite. The defense left roughly four and a half wins on the field — not a rounding error, a structural failure. The front office responded by bringing in Dexter Lawrence to anchor the interior and adding Bryan Cook to shore up the secondary. That's a real investment. Losing Stewart before the season started would have punched a hole in the plan before it had a chance to work.

Stewart's status is still Questionable, so nothing is settled. But the trajectory is better than it looked two weeks ago, and that's enough for now.