Maualuga Released

[*SHRacerX*]

(03-25-2017, 07:26 PM)BonnieBengal Wrote: OK now they get a D in free agency instead of an F-

Bonnie, I feel your pain and I chuckled at your post.  It isn't easy when your team loses guys that have seemingly been on the team forever, but it is often necessary to cut bait and move on.  I loved Whit.  His line after getting ejected for fighting Richard Seymour (Raiders) when that bytch was trying to gouge his eyes out after a late hit on Dalton caused a tussle.  He said:  "I have two contracts in my life:  My marriage to my wife and to protect Andy Dalton".  I fell head over heels in love with him.  My favorite Bengal.  I could deal with the losses of Zeitler (way overrated), and Sexy (but I really, really liked the guy), but Whit...he was my guy.  

Then I remembered when the Reds resigned Barry Larkin when they should have let him go and gone with younger players.  We got to witness his decline, and he cost the Reds a lot of money that could have been used to bring in some young pitchers.  But the got emotional, and at the game when Larkin received standing ovations at every at-bat when he was playing what everyone thought was his final game, the team caved and did what they thought the fan base would want.  And it set the team back three more years.

Whit is no exception.  He is a GREAT man, and his durability is borderline unprecedented.  But they had to get younger, and they have a lot of other pieces that would need the contracts thus prohibiting the contract for Whitworth.  

Ced has been a massive failure, and that overvalues Whit even more.  If the Bengals do a little creative work in the draft, they could slide in Rd 1, get the WR Ross or Davis, then trade BACK in to Round 1 and get Cam Robinson to compete with Ced at LT.  Either Ced has improved enough to win the job (he can't play guard) and the LT spot is secure and Robinson goes on to be an All-Pro at RG or Robinson wins the job at LT and the position is secure and we have the winner of Westerman and Smith at RG.  Either way the offense is better and the run blocking is significantly upgraded.  Again, the offense and the running game are significantly upgraded, at a savings of roughly $22 million.  

That is the job that can and still could be done.  If they pull that off, they deserve an A+ for making the difficult moves and not letting emotional attachments get in the way of improving the team.

They did sign the younger, rising talent Dre Kirkpatrick and a young, speedy LB from AZ (Minter).  They also re-upped with the consummate Pro, LaFell.  

If they can pull of that kind of draft, the team won't just be improved, it will be MUCH improved.