What position do the Bengals have the best depth, or who is the best back up player?

[Shepdawg]

A few weeks back I started a thread regarding which player the Bengals could least afford to lose.  Keeping on the idea of "injuries happen" I want to try take this thread in a different direction.  If the Bengals were to lose a starter for significant time (10 games or more) which position would be best equipped to deal with it?  Now that being said there is a bit of additional criteria involved.  Rotational guys are excluded.  I'm looking for guys that have played or are projected to play fewer than 20% of the defensive snaps.  IE... Brandon Thompson backs up Geno, but plays a lot in rotation now.  If (please football Gods don't let this scenario happen) Geno were to get injured, Thompson's role would obviously increase, but I'm looking at the guy that would replace Thompson in the rotation. (Marcus Hardison)

Obviously we don't know for sure who will even make the team at this point, so many of the players are projections. I know their are other players at positions, and I'm not discounting them. But was just trying to give a good sample size of they depth chart players I was looking to discuss. Please feel free to add any player omissions.

[fredtoast]

Giovani Bernard is our back up RB, not Rex Burkhead.

Thompson and Sims are our back up DTs.

And BY FAR our best depth is at CB, but not because of the guys you listed.

[Shepdawg]

(05-26-2015, 08:20 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Giovani Bernard is our back up RB, not Rex Burkhead.

Thompson and Sims are our back up DTs.

And BY FAR our best depth is at CB, but not because of the guys you listed.

I am aware of this Fred, thank you. Please refer to the OP where I specified I was not including players that already are in a rotation and receiving fairly significant playing time. Clearly their roles would increase if the player they back up gets injured. But we already sorta know what we have in those players. I want to get opinions on the guys that don't play, and would then assume the role in the rotation.

Clearly Gio backs up Hill. But he also get significant playing time spelling Hill now. If Hill is gone for 10 weeks, Gio would not be able to take 100% of the snaps. I think at this point Rex Burkhead is first man off the bench in that scenario, hence why I have his name, and not Gio's.

[fredtoast]

(05-26-2015, 08:30 PM)Shepdawg Wrote: I am aware of this Fred,  thank you.  Please refer to the OP where I specified I was not including players that already are in a rotation and receiving fairly significant playing time.  Clearly their roles would increase if the player they back up gets injured.  But we already sorta know what we have in those players.  I want to get opinions on the guys that don't play, and would then assume the role in the rotation.

I read the OP. I was just saying that your definition of "depth" was not realistic.

If one of the rotational guys goes down then the other guys in the rotation would probably pick up extra snaps instead of giving them all to the players you have listed.

But I guess if it is your thread you get to define the terms. So never mind. I am not going to make a big deal of it.

[SunsetBengal]

(05-26-2015, 08:33 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I read the OP.  I was just saying that your definition of "depth" was not realistic.

If one of the rotational guys goes down then the other guys in the rotation would probably pick up extra snaps instead of giving them all to the players you have listed.

But I guess if it is your thread you get to define the terms.  So never mind.  I am not going to make a big deal of it.

Would that not, by proxy, at least bring the players he mentions into rotational status, should the starter or 1st rotational player do down with injury?

[Shepdawg]

(05-26-2015, 08:51 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Would that not, by proxy, at least bring the players he mentions into rotational status, should the starter or 1st rotational player do down with injury?

Thank you Sunset. that's exactly what I was trying to convey.

[Shepdawg]

I went DE, but it's tough. We have some solid depth, even this deep on the chart. I think Gilberry is first man off the Bench if either Dunlap or MJ go down. But I think Clarke and Hunt can fill their rotation pretty well. I'm not sure how many snaps each had last year, pretty confident both were under 20%. With the return of MJ, I don't think Hunt or Clarke project at more than 20% of the snaps this year.

[Benton]

Probably dt, not that we have a lot of depth, but because the depth can't be much worse. The worst that could happen would be someone steps in and lets a lot of ej s through and doesn't get to the QB.... Which is our 2014 dline.

CB is probably our most deep position, with a close second being oline.

[*bfine32*]

From the choices given I'd go TE; although, I'd expect Kroft to be in a heavy rotation. So you probably should not have listed him.

[*SHRacerX*]

I went with the TE position, because I could see a fourth player make the roster, such as Peters. Uzomah was a pick I didn't really understand since Nick Boyle, a beast of a blocker, was still available but they must have seen something. I think with the ability to play on special teams and with the number of two TE sets this team may decide to run that this group of TEs could have minimal dropoff from 1-4. (Eifert, Kroft, Uzomah, Peters)

The correct answer would have been CB, but you listed Clark Lewis-Harris and McCaleb as the backups. Realistically, right now, the starters are Hall, Jones, and Kirkpatrick, which would leave Dennard and Josh Shaw as the backups. Top to bottom, that is our best position group.