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Offseason To-Do List: Resigning Free Agents


Beck Bristow

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4 hours ago, theJ said:

In defense of Sample, rookie TE's are generally not real effective.  I'm also not convinced he'll pan out, but it's far from a done deal.  Especially if they let Eifert walk and actually play the guy.

Hopefully you’re right. I didn’t like Sample as a prospect, so I’m not expecting much. He was definitely picked with Eifert’s contract expiring in mind, so I can see us freeing him by letting Eifert walk. 

I will always hold it against him though, considering the countless names making immediate impacts we passed over to take him. I was so pissed at the time.

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6 hours ago, THE DUKE said:

They could give Littleton $15 million a year and still be well below the minimum cap threshold. 

I also wanted to mention again, it’s not about annual salary for these free agents. The cap number is almost irrelevant. It all comes down to guaranteed cash, which comes directly out of Mike’s pocket up front. The Bengals don’t throw it around enough to lure those FA’s in no matter how much cap space or money we claim to have to spend. 

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7 hours ago, SmittyBacall said:

This isn’t true.  There’s plenty of LBs to be had in this crop. It’s not weak by any means. 

Maybe, it’s certainly an option. But I think it makes more sense to add one or two OL this draft considering how deep the OL class is. We could grab a legitimate starter round at 33 or 64.

The problem with the draft is there aren't any veterans in it. At best you get rookies who become good veteran players in time. Burrow has the potential to be elite but we shouldn't expect our other draft picks to start as rookies unless they win the job instead of having it handed to them. 

There are only a couple of LBs in this draft who are highly likely first round picks, Simmons and probably Murray. After that, it's a bunch of maybes. I'd rather sign a couple of free agent LBs who can cover such as Littleton and Schobert or Trevathan than overdraft a college guy.

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2 hours ago, sparky151 said:

The problem with the draft is there aren't any veterans in it. At best you get rookies who become good veteran players in time.

Well, yeah. That’s what the draft is for. We’re investing in the future. 

2 hours ago, sparky151 said:

Burrow has the potential to be elite but we shouldn't expect our other draft picks to start as rookies unless they win the job instead of having it handed to them. 

The way I see it, this team is still a few years away from being a legitimate threat. Chances are we’re not making the playoffs next year with a rookie QB (and I’m as big a Burrow fan as there is). I’m okay with giving a rookie meaningful minutes if it means fulfilling his potential years down the line when the team is ready to compete.

2 hours ago, sparky151 said:

There are only a couple of LBs in this draft who are highly likely first round picks, Simmons and probably Murray. After that, it's a bunch of maybes. 

It wouldn’t surprise me if Simmons was the only first rounder. That doesn’t mean there aren’t quality starters to be had later (see Fred Warner, Bobby Wagner, Darius Leonard, Deion Jones, etc). Those “maybes” turned out pretty well. 

2 hours ago, sparky151 said:

I'd rather sign a couple of free agent LBs who can cover such as Littleton and Schobert or Trevathan than overdraft a college guy.

That’s definitely an option I’d support. 

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11 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

I'm certainly not opposed to drafting on the O-line, this draft is strong at tackle and ok at guard and center. But I don't want Burrow getting killed ala Klingler behind rookies. 

That’s the rare thing with Burrow. He excels under pressure and moves well in a collapsing pocket. 

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11 hours ago, johndeere1707 said:

That’s the rare thing with Burrow. He excels under pressure and moves well in a collapsing pocket. 

Yep.  I'm not too worried about him behind that line.  Not that i don't think they shouldn't try to make some improvements.  But he won't be a lost case behind it like Dalton was.

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I want clean pockets for Burrow so he can concentrate down field instead of having to dodge tacklers in the pocket. It's good that he has movement skills but the less he has to use them, the better. We certainly shouldn't use his movement skills as an excuse to not upgrade the O-line.

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27 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

I want clean pockets for Burrow so he can concentrate down field instead of having to dodge tacklers in the pocket. It's good that he has movement skills but the less he has to use them, the better. We certainly shouldn't use his movement skills as an excuse to not upgrade the O-line.

I don’t think anyone’s disputing that. I think we don’t have to have a great player at every spot. The defense still needs a lot of help. 

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1 hour ago, sparky151 said:

I want clean pockets for Burrow so he can concentrate down field instead of having to dodge tacklers in the pocket. It's good that he has movement skills but the less he has to use them, the better. We certainly shouldn't use his movement skills as an excuse to not upgrade the O-line.

I think that's almost literally what i said, lol.

And it's not that he has good movement skills in the pocket.  It's that he has them and the rare ability to still make plays in the passing game while doing it.  Most Almost every single QB takes a big hit on QB rating, comp %, TD%, etc when pressured.  Joe didn't last year.

So again - yes, keep upgrading the line.  But if the choice is a WR graded a little higher than an OG or OT in round 2 or 3, you take the better player.

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4 hours ago, sparky151 said:

I want clean pockets for Burrow so he can concentrate down field instead of having to dodge tacklers in the pocket. It's good that he has movement skills but the less he has to use them, the better. We certainly shouldn't use his movement skills as an excuse to not upgrade the O-line.

Clean pockets are ideal for any QB, but the difference between Andy and Joe is that the latter isn’t dependent on substantial protection to find offensive success. Joe actually elevates the play (or at least, the perception) of the line. He creates time on his own accord.

The line got much better as the year progressed. We’ve got Jonah coming back and will likely at least make one addition via FA or the draft. I’m not crazy worried about it. Joe will be fine.

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2 hours ago, theJ said:

So again - yes, keep upgrading the line.  But if the choice is a WR graded a little higher than an OG or OT in round 2 or 3, you take the better player.

100%. We’ve had so many draft misses these last few years we can’t afford not to take the best player. 

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5 hours ago, johndeere1707 said:

I don’t think anyone’s disputing that. I think we don’t have to have a great player at every spot. The defense still needs a lot of help. 

 

Certainly we don't have to have great players at every spot. But we do need to not have obvious incompetents in the starting lineup. Bobby Hart is still our starting RT at the moment. We can't honestly say we have a single starting O-lineman who is clearly above the league average for their position.

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3 hours ago, sparky151 said:

 

Certainly we don't have to have great players at every spot. But we do need to not have obvious incompetents in the starting lineup. Bobby Hart is still our starting RT at the moment. We can't honestly say we have a single starting O-lineman who is clearly above the league average for their position.

I think Trey Hopkins is. But yeah your point is taken. 

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