In hindsight, the Bengals FO did a poor job this off season

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(10-04-2016, 02:21 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: After a quarter of the season, I think its fair to say. The difference in the talent and the coaching between this year and last year is very evident.

They let Reggie Nelson, Marvin Jones, Andre Smith, Sanu, Leon Hall, Emmanual Lamur, Wallace Gilberry, Vance Joseph, and Hugh Jackson walk.

I know each of those players/coaches have different circumstances around why they left, and some are justified, but how could we honestly think we were going to be better this year than last year?

Thats a CRAP TON of talent and roster depth. It kind of pisses me off looking back on it that the FO didnt make more of a push this off season to bring some of these guys back or replace them with quality replacements.

You are seeing the results from this off season. Poor offensive line, not as effective defensive line, poor secondary play, and a step back in the coaching and coordinating of this team.

I understand completely what you are saying here, but let me offer some perspective:

The money that was paid to guys like Marvin, Sanu, and Nelson was ridiculous and not worth the investment here. Why?  Because Eifert, as we are witnessing, is much more important to this offense (rushing and red zone) than the WRs Jones and Sanu.  The others simply aren't as good as the options the Bengals had to replace them with so it was a good decision.  All these FA defections will yield significant compensatory picks in next year's draft....and they just became trade-able (the picks).  With no FA acquisitions, the calculation is a bit of a mystery, but the max I believe a team could acquire is three third rounders.  That would be borderline incredible.  And Jones, Sanu, Hall, Nelson, and Smith are all starting and a number of them are highly compensated.  Somehow, that all figures in to the equation.  

The coaches?  You don't own the rights to them, but I agree it is very disappointing the way they stuck with Marvin yet again.  I would have much rather had Hue running the team with Marvin as some personnel manager (and I would pay him well to do that....dude knows talent).  You can say they didn't learn from their first loss with Zimmer, but Mike Brown clearly would rather have the conservative coach that is not at all outspoken to run his team.  

The offensive line still has a chance to gel and end the season as a solid unit.  I believe in Fisher and Ced O.  The defensive line is at least holding up against some of the better teams in the NFL, and they should start to look much better with Tez back out there.  I also am very encouraged that Hunt and Clarke seem to be solid contributors.  I really thought keeping them and not signing Freeney was a big mistake.  

The big whiff was at Center.  It appears Bodine might actually be worse than feared.  He is on roller skates.  Not pushing him with a FA or a decent draft selection was a big mistake.  Look at what Alex Mack has done for Altanta.  That could have been Cincy.  You can bet next year, an early pick will be used at Center.  

Right now, Altanta looks pretty good with their FA acquisitions, but it also forces them to have a paper-thin roster.  They don't have talent in the wings like the Bengals to back up numerous positions.  If/when they suffer a few key injuries...well, they started last year 5-0 as well....and finished 8-8