05-18-2015, 04:48 AM
(05-18-2015, 12:48 AM)Hammerstripes Wrote: The team can pretty much keep anybody they want. They will have plenty of space under the cap.
The guys that I can see moving on:
Andre Smith. I think he will have a good season, but you don't draft 2 offensive tackles in round 1 and 2 and keep them sitting. I don't see the team letting Whit go anywhere, so I could see Andre leaving.
Marvin Jones. If he stays healthy and produces, there's no way the team will sign him AND AJ to big deals. They could certainly afford to do so, but I can't see it happening.
Pac-Man. I think he comes back if he wants to.
Hall. If he comes back, it better not be at $9 million a year.
That's good perspective, instead of being freaked they have so many FA's, they really have the luxury to sign who whey want because they don't have a lot of dead money.
Two situations that are interesting are NT and WR. Those are two positions they chose not to draft, yet brought in some depth (Sims and Moore) for this year. Thompson and Marvin look like the future, but maybe they (and Iloka) have such great years that they cash in on the market. Lets get past calling Cincy cheap, maybe someone just overpays out of need, they are "free" agents after all. If Jones produces, they'll try to has out a deal during the year. If he moves on as you say, hopefully Sanu shows he can separate once in a while, and use his YAC and blocking skills to be a quality #3 or fringe #2, they'd likely draft one high next year but they still could keep Moore for depth. Same goes at NT. Thompson could be the future over Peko, but maybe they end up with a Sims/high pick platoon next year. The fallbacks aren't that bad really.
They still hold all the chips with Whit and Andre. The scorn we heard in Whit's comments sounded more like lost leverage than actual lost trust, given that he welcomed competition days before. Reality is that some team that's sick of seeing their young QB sacked may give him 4 or 5 years of top 5 tackle money. I think Whit is Plan A for Cincy with a great shot at staying, but if he removes himself then they still don't have to overpay Andre either. He could hit the market again, stay at another reasonable short term deal or they throw the youngsters in there. Somehow, I'd like to see Fisher end up at LG (Boling to C with Bodine as awesome depth?). I think he'd be a dominant LG and a luxury insurance policy as a 3rd tackle. You're right that they have options, and thankfully they have few pressing needs.
