The Steelers are just better than the Bengals

[*ochocincos*]

(11-09-2018, 03:24 PM)wildcats forever Wrote: Generally speaking, this is the direction we need to see them head toward. It will take a combination of a committed participation in free agency plus a successful draft. And that might still be short of the goal of getting it done next off season. Had we seen this in recent years though, we might not be having such discussions. Why this team hangs on to 3rd and 4th year players (and coaches) while they produce next to nothing is beyond me. It has become less than satisfying to think/say that it's all on Mike Brown or Marvin, especially if it's 100% true. We're stymied as fans, I guess. 

Luckily, the Bengals currently look to have $58 mill in cap space for 2019 and that is already counting Atkins and Dunlap extensions. They'll reserve about $8-10 mill for draft picks and another $5 mill for injuries, so really that number goes down to about $43-45 mill to spend in FA (including internal). That should still be plenty to re-sign and extend some guys (specifically Boyd and Boling) while also getting an impact FA or two.

They do have a wide array of upcoming FAs, and I expect at least a few of these will be re-signed (in order of my preference):
Dennard
Kroft
Uzomah
Hopkins
Brown
Eifert
Rey
Redmond
Fisher
Hart
Ogbuehi

What will hinder this progression will be to hold back $10+ mill in cap space yet again to carry over to next year. You can't ever truly make that leap if you constantly hold back for the future.