03-04-2022, 01:55 AM
(03-04-2022, 01:40 AM)Murdock2420 Wrote: I think it will be a combination of both things.
First, the Bengals will focus on signing their own like Bates and that is going to cost a decent amount.
Secondly, I don't think the Bengals will "over-pay" for a free agent and by over-pay I mean their version of what a guy/position is worth. OL is the second most sought after position in the league after QB. Every team out there has holes and could use an upgrade so the competition for the top guys (like Thuney last year) will be intense. The younger high quality linemen will probably price themselves out of the Bengals range, leaving a vet (like Reiff was) or a not top tier guy (like Spain was, and Daniels is) to fill the needs.
I want to believe they will make it a priority and go after it with aggression, but they had just as big a need last season, especially with Burrow's injury, and the fix was a veteran second tier tackle, a second rounder that they traded down to take and then two guys on the last day.
Add in they will need a corner to replace Waynes and Apple and probably another IDL to replace one of Larry O or Hill and pretty quickly, you see the cap and picks start to evaporate.
It's late lol
Not sure why I typed Mike not James.
Their position weakness drew national attention to debate not taking a slam dunk plug and play star in Chase. It then drew global attention on the biggest stage as the reason they lost the elusive trophy.
They knew they had to rebuild the run defense and then defense in general the last 2 years and did so by going against former practices. If this was 2018 I'd agree with your logic but they will not let this happen.
The draft has corners and they'll have to forsake a quality backup UT if it means "hoping" for your kids to get significantly better and fix things. They have to get at least 2 starters in FA. If you win this bet, this will be a very long half year.
