02-07-2024, 07:46 PM
(02-07-2024, 07:20 PM)ochocincos Wrote: It feels like the Bengals have a lot invested into the OL, but looking at positional spending, maybe the Bengals aren't as much as I thought.
Bengals 2024 cap spending by position rank (before FA/draft):
DL - 4th highest in the league
LB - 19th highest
DB - 27th highest
OL - 21st highest (this goes up to 19th in 2025, 14th in 2026)
TE - Tied for last
RB/FB - 11th highest
WR - 26th highest
QB - 15th highest (Burrow only $29.7 mill against the cap this year)
WR is going to jump up a lot depending on what they do with Chase (and Higgins) in the coming couple years
RB is going to likely go down after 2024 once Mixon hits FA next year.
Maybe the Bengals could (should?) worry less about high-cost positions like WR, DL, CB and put first priority on OL to start FA?
Maybe Onwenu would be considered "good enough" to spend that extra $$ to finally solidify the OL.
I don't think there's much of a shot of moving Volson out of LG though, which I know was mentioned elsewhere. After 2 years and actually seeing improvement across that time, LG feels pretty locked, to me.
The fact that we are spending more money than the production we are getting is simply a derogatory mark against the front office. This really has nothing to do with actually fixing the problem. If the problem is not the offense, or the oline coach, then it has to be the players...right?
When a team is as pathetic as we have been with this unit the only way to fix it is to dump even more resources into it; draft capital and cash. We can then hope that it becomes a numbers game. It is a sad situation and in my opinion reflects terribly on the embarrassingly small scouting department.
