03-11-2017, 06:52 PM
(03-11-2017, 06:23 PM)BonnieBengal Wrote: Smith is an unrestricted free agent. Hobson wrote yesterday that the Bengals are not signing any unrestricted free agents because it will endanger their precious comp picks.
This is the first thing that came to mind. They're already all in on that plan, it would be insane to turn from it now, no matter if we like it or not. You don't want anyone messing up the two 3rds that Zeitler and Whit should net. Depending on the contacts, some of the other guys like Peko and Dansby fetch a very late round (6th or 7th) pick. So to literally NOT lose any of the max 4 comp picks the plan would be for, they'd have to lose those two plus a guy like Hunt or Burkhead and have all of them be paid more than Smith just for the hope to not "lose" a pick. Then you have the usage rate that didn't seem to come into play as much with this year's announcements, but if the plan for him is to compete at RG or RT it's very possible to have that trump the 4th guy they lose.
Two guys I want to call attention to for anyone that can help me with this is Marshall Newhouse and Jermain Gresham. I remember we were worried about the Newhouse signing of around a million dollars negating a pick, it would take well above that to land Smith. I just can't remember if his signing cancelled a pick, I'm thinking no it didn't. Also, I seem to remember that they lost Gresham so late in the offseason to Arizona that they didn't get a comp pick for him. So for any of us rooting for this reunion, it may take him sitting on the market either not getting the job opening or money he wants, or not being able to pass a team's physical.
