Ownership philosophy is the problem

[fredtoast]

Here is the problem with free agency. Almost every team locks up their best players instead of letting them go in free agency, then when players hit the free agent market their value is driven up by market competition. The players that hit free agenmcy are usually not the best players at their position, but when they are the best players AVAILABLE at thier position teams get in bidding wars over them and end up over paying.

So, if you are always looking "long term" the Bengals approach to free agency actually makes a lot of sense, but the problem is that when you have a team that is just a player or two away from competing for a championship you have to take chances with free agents. And that is where the Bengals have failed.