01-04-2021, 02:13 PM
(01-04-2021, 01:06 PM)fredtoast Wrote: It hurts teams that free agency comes before the draft. In free agency you can target your most serious position of need, but in the draft you really need to take the best player available instead of reaching for a lower rated player based on position. Obviously teams take positions of need into account when ranking players on their draft board, and after the first couple of rounds it probably doesn't matter that much. But when you are talking about a top five pick in the first round it can be a huge mistake to reach based on position.
If the draft came first teams could take the best players available and then fill in the roster holes in free agency. But players don't like that because desperation is what drives big free agent contracts, and if a team has already addressed its biggest need in the draft they will not be as desperate to sign free agents.
Having Bobby Hart under contract for one more year helps. He looks a likely cap casualty but the Bengals can hold onto him until they see how the draft (and rookie camp?) plays out.
CB is more troublesome. I suspect they sign a veteran (a Terrence Newman type) on a one year deal and look to the draft for a long term replacement. Maybe they'll attack CB like they did last year at LB - it's not just WJIII out of contract but also Alexander and Sims. Sims wouldn't have returned anyway, but they'll need to replace his snaps. They were pretty active in the CB bargain bin this time a year ago but none of those (Winston Rose, Tony Brown, Greg Mabin, Torry McTyer, LeShaun Sims etc) panned out and it's not just starters they need but depth as well. They currently only have 2 CBs under contract - the injured Waynes and the injury-prone Phillips. This is where the negligence in failing to collect extra picks during the rebuild hurt. When they had multiple 5th round picks in 2018 they were able to draft Davontae Harris and Darius Phillips and from that Phillips turned into a useful piece. We could do with throwing a handful of picks at the position and seeing what sticks but we only have 8 draft picks.
If they can re-sign Lawson, Edge becomes a less pressing need and they can look for a mid-tier free agent and if that fails a mid-round rusher. Hubbard (3rd round) and Lawson (4th round) were excellent mid-round value picks at Edge, so it's possible.
Add in a G in FA and that would put them in a position to go BPA rounds 1-3.
The big question for me is what to do with Geno. He costs a lot for his recent production but I'm not sure how they replace him if they cut him. Maybe they end up keeping him for that reason? It would be quite Bengally.
