CINCINNATI -- Before turning our full attention to free agency, the draft and the 2015 season, let's take one last look back at 2014.

We're doing that all this week through this position-by-position review of the Cincinnati Bengals' recent 10-5-1 campaign that ended with a wild-card round loss at Indianapolis.

Previous entries in the series. Now we continue with defensive ends:

2014 cap value: $14.5 million total -- Carlos Dunlap ($8.6 million), Robert Geathers ($2.7 million), Wallace Gilberry ($1.8 million), Margus Hunt ($834,341), Will Clarke ($556,345)

Highlights: From a pure stats only standpoint, there was little for the Bengals' defensive ends to celebrate this past season. Though the pass-rush position has significantly broader duties and responsibilities than just getting to the quarterback, sacks still are incredibly important for the position. There were very few highlights in that area, but Dunlap had his share. With eight sacks -- the second-highest single-season total of his career -- Dunlap was the Bengals' best at hurrying opposing quarterbacks in 2014. He was particularly good on third downs,when he got six of his eight sacks.

Lowlights: Compared to the two seasons that immediately preceded it, the defensive ends' sack numbers were noticeably lower. In 2012 and 2013, the position group had two or more players finish with at least six sacks during the regular season. In 2014, only one player did -- Dunlap. No one else came close. Gilberry, the veteran who spent his earlier seasons in Cincinnati coming off the bench as a No. 3 end and occasional defensive tackle in nickel situations, had only 1.5 sacks this past season. The year before, he had 7.5. The year before that, he had 6.5 in 14 games with the Bengals. He, like the others, just wasn't as effective slowing down opposing quarterbacks this year as he had been. One might have imagined his numbers would have been higher, given the fact he played nearly 300 snaps more than he had in any previous season of his career. An argument also could be made that the extra playing time affected his energy by the end of the season.

Another lowlight revolved around the hit Hunt's growth took when he missed four games late in the year with an ankle injury. It was a setback for the second-year player whose best performances came in the preseason. Cincinnati's goal this year will be to keep him healthy.

Play of the year: The play of the year came in what was the game of the year for the entire defense. It was during the 30-0 Week 15 win at Cleveland that Gilberry had a key early stop on a scrambling Johnny Manziel, hitting the rookie quarterback hard for a 7-yard loss. Since Manziel was scrambling, it didn't count as a sack, but the tackle for loss set the tone for the game. It was after that stop that Gilberry put his hands in the air and flashed Manziel's patented "money" sign as a way of mocking the signal-caller who was making his first career start. Whenever they would tackle Manziel or deflect away one of his passes, other Bengals flashed the sign, too.

Necessary improvements: It's obvious what improvements must be made for the Bengals' defensive ends: they simply must do a better job of adversely affecting quarterbacks in 2015. Coaches and players recognize that. Changes to personnel and rotations could help them do that. A good free-agent addition would give Dunlap the bookend lineman he missed after Michael Johnson was signed away by Tampa Bay last year, thereby perhaps freeing him for more rush possibilities. Better pressure from the interior linemen could help the ends as well.