***Official Bengals Free Agency Thread***

[Murdock2420]

(03-30-2021, 11:05 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I can't think of a single 2nd rounder that I would be willing to trade the ability to choose from Sewell/Chase/Pitts.

The Patriots 1st round pick is 15. At that point all three are gone, along with likely Slater/Smith/Waddle. You'll likely have the 3rd best OL or 4th best WR to choose from at 15, and nothing the Patriots have draft pick-wise really is tempting to make that downgrade for.

1 Ronnie Stanley is better than 2 Jonah Williams
1 Julio Jones is better than 2 Tyler Boyds
1 Travis Kelce is better than 2 Jermaine Greshams

At some point if you want to be a great team, you need some great players. Not saying you need a ton of great players, because I don't think any team has that, but you need at least 3-5 truly big time difference makers. The Bengals have borderline 1 right now (Bates, who I would love to see take another small step forward and cement that status) and they are in position to potentially get another one of those right now. At 15 that is much less likely.

Bates wasn't a first rounder and is arguably our best player on the team.

With how much talent we need on this team and the amount of upgrades we need, getting additional picks in the early part of the draft helps this year (the extra 2nd) but then you are getting two of the top 32 guys in the next two drafts? That is a great value and helps restock a down roster.

It isn't like Sewell or Chase or Pitts is the missing link that takes us from 4 wins to playoffs. We are still going to be probably at best a .500 team next year. So, maybe 2022 is the season they make the jump and if you have two 1st rounders in the draft and the ability to trade the 2023 additional 1st rounder to move up... it absolutely is the smart move.