To all you bitchin' ingrates saying the Front Office is negligent about not bringing the best FA Olinemen in this past off-season, please shut your pie hole. You can offer said FA OL a contract offer, but whether they want to come here or not is soley up to them. Cincinnati has never been a destination that good players have wanted to come to. Whether it's atmosphere, environment, competitiveness, etc. Attempts were made, and those good FA OL's simply decided to go to teams that they thought would be much greener pastures than the Bengals "Bungals". Remember how we all wanted the perfect fit Joe Thuney? KC looks a lot shinier than Cin.

LOL Yogi. Your post was far more apropo towards this organization up to a couple years ago. They did pretty well this past season.

"We want to help Joe, but only after both his knees are shot."

Sure would be nice to have a FO that recognizes a very obvious problem before the franchise QB gets battered for two years.

(02-18-2022, 02:54 PM)ladeda Wrote:   Joe Burrow is the franchise-- we all knew this last offseason.    Herbert is the franchise for the Chargers and they stepped up for him with Lindley, Feiler, Slater and Aboushi last offseason.   Every Bengals fan knew they had to fix the OL last year--- Joe Burrow's HEALTH is more important than any other position on the roster, including WR1.  Sorry, not sorry.  

 They didn't take the OL seriously last year--- they had the cash to still sign another OL, which was even more critical bc they didn't know how Hopkins would be after returning from surgery and they needed at least 3 guys to begin with.  The FO was so clueless, that they drafted some OL that basically need a few years of development and can't help right away.   How does that help Burrow last year? 

  Mike Brown and the FO can shut up---- either sign good lineman for Burrow, or just shut up. Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words.    Don't tell me about not having the space, bc they do. Don't tell me they have to sign other FA's and that eats up their space--- bc they can sign their own FA's AND still add OL.   Don't tell me no one wants to play here, or they have to overpay.  I'm hearing a lot of excuses already from Bengals fans regarding cap space.   Hint: They have the cap space available to resign their own guys and still add 3 OL. 

 Just stop making excuses and get it done.     Go sign Jensen/Jones, Daniels and a RT.   Big signing bonus, so you can have a lower cap hit for 2022 and 2023.  If the Bengals don't fix the OL this offseason, it was bc they were cheap and/or stupid.    They can easily structure deals with lower cap hits to make a run over the next 3 seasons.   I'm just not sure they are willing to do it. 

  Put up or Shut up time Mike Brown and Katie Blackburn. It is as simple as that.  Just get it done.  That's your job, get it done. 

Excellent post.  Perfectly said.

Btw, I vote  "put up" AND "shut up"  !!!!

(02-18-2022, 03:37 PM)Big_Ern Wrote: Yeah they'll be in cap hell soon. This year was their best shot. Hell, if we just drafted the two lineman KC did it would've solved a lot 

Yes and no.

You could basically have swapped Carman for Humphrey and then Smith for Hill which would have potentially solidified C and RG, but RT was still a gap if anything happened to Reiff.
And of course Reiff couldn't stay healthy by the end of the season.
It still blows my mind that the Bengals decided to put Isaiah Prince in at RT over Fred Johnson or D'Ante Smith.

Personally, I'm nervous about D'Ante Smith.
There were concerns of him being able to keep his weight above 300 lbs, as he played below that in college.
He got above that for his Pro Day, getting up to 305 lb, but he's back down to 294 lb this past season with the Bengals.
Weight isn't everything, but his lack of weight was seen as a big detriment for him specifically.

(02-18-2022, 04:38 PM)higgy100 Wrote: LOL Yogi. Your post was far more apropo towards this organization up to a couple years ago. They did pretty well this past season.

Actually it's spot on relevant, because we sucked last season, we only became good this season to change our image.

I think that Frank Pollard convinced Zac Taylor he had the talent to improve the OL play. I think he misjudged them. I also think Zac has misjudged them. Time to fix it and fix it good. No excuses. Some guys are college guys and never translate in the pros. I’m afraid Carman is that way. They’d better get a center in FA and maybe a journeyman mid level guard and let them fight it out. Resign Reiff and draft a tackle at #31.

Is moving Jonah to LG a crazy idea?

And adding in 2 tackles via FA

Then drafting best available defense/O Lineman in rounds 1 and 2 of draft.

(02-18-2022, 05:23 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Yes and no.

You could basically have swapped Carman for Humphrey and then Smith for Hill which would have potentially solidified C and RG, but RT was still a gap if anything happened to Reiff.
And of course Reiff couldn't stay healthy by the end of the season.
It still blows my mind that the Bengals decided to put Isaiah Prince in at RT over Fred Johnson or D'Ante Smith.

Personally, I'm nervous about D'Ante Smith.
There were concerns of him being able to keep his weight above 300 lbs, as he played below that in college.
He got above that for his Pro Day, getting up to 305 lb, but he's back down to 294 lb this past season with the Bengals.
Weight isn't everything, but his lack of weight was seen as a big detriment for him specifically.

I'd bet we win that game if we had them 

(02-18-2022, 05:23 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Yes and no.

You could basically have swapped Carman for Humphrey and then Smith for Hill which would have potentially solidified C and RG, but RT was still a gap if anything happened to Reiff.
And of course Reiff couldn't stay healthy by the end of the season.
It still blows my mind that the Bengals decided to put Isaiah Prince in at RT over Fred Johnson or D'Ante Smith.

Personally, I'm nervous about D'Ante Smith.
There were concerns of him being able to keep his weight above 300 lbs, as he played below that in college.
He got above that for his Pro Day, getting up to 305 lb, but he's back down to 294 lb this past season with the Bengals.
Weight isn't everything, but his lack of weight was seen as a big detriment for him specifically.

Reiff not being able to stay healthy was just about the most predictable thing possible. It's the same reason why people are mentioning Scherff and Armstead and I want nothing to do with them.

He doesn't likely want to due to the huge pay difference, but if he wants to actually make teams and get playing time, he might be best off trying to actually lose about 14-24lbs from that 294 and just become a blocking TE if he has that much trouble keeping weight on.

(02-18-2022, 05:53 PM)CincyDog Wrote: Is moving Jonah to LG a crazy idea?

And adding in 2 tackles via FA

Then drafting best available defense/O  Lineman in  rounds 1 and 2 of draft.

Yes. It's a crazy idea.

Jonah graded out as 77.5. You would never be able to afford 2 Tackles better than him in free agency.

And then relying on your 1st and 2nd Round picks to be able to start/play heavy snaps is also crazy.

(02-18-2022, 05:56 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Reiff not being able to stay healthy was just about the most predictable thing possible.

He doesn't likely want to due to the huge pay difference, but if he wants to actually make teams and get playing time, he might be best off trying to actually lose about 14-24lbs from that 294 and just become a blocking TE if he has that much trouble keeping weight on.

Depends if he has ability to catch the ball at all or not.
If not, no reason to go even further down, as that's only gonna make him even less effective blocking.

From an article back in May of last year, Smith got up to as high as 311 lb around that time.
He was around 295 for last year's Senior Bowl and only 283 during the ECU season opener in 2020.
https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/news/bengals-tackle-dante-smith-continues-to-gain-weight-in-hopes-of-making-nfl-leap

(02-18-2022, 05:26 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I think that Frank Pollard convinced Zac Taylor he had the talent to improve the OL play. I think he misjudged them. I also think Zac has misjudged them. Time to fix it and fix it good. No excuses. Some guys are college guys and never translate in the pros. I’m afraid Carman is that way. They’d better get a center in FA and maybe a journeyman mid level guard and let them fight it out. Resign Reiff and draft a tackle at #31.

He did improve the OL play.
At least in the run game.

Do the Bengals give Pollack another couple years like they gave Anarumo and Taylor? Or do they only give Pollack this coming year to turn the OL around?

(02-18-2022, 05:59 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Yes. It's a crazy idea.

Jonah graded out as 77.5. You would never be able to afford 2 Tackles better than him in free agency.

And then relying on your 1st and 2nd Round picks to be able to start/play heavy snaps is also crazy.

So, he is a fixture.

Would you move him to RT if a top 5 T wanted to come on board?

(02-18-2022, 05:53 PM)CincyDog Wrote: Is moving Jonah to LG a crazy idea?

And adding in 2 tackles via FA

Then drafting best available defense/O  Lineman in  rounds 1 and 2 of draft.

I remember Jonah saying that he wanted to be an LT period.  Whether it was for prestige or his future FA payout, I don't know.  If he is willing to be a team-first kind of guy, and he can play guard at a good level, maybe he would be willing to move for the sake of winning.  I think RT is the best spot for him due to his shorter than desirable arm length for a prototypical LT.  Also been noticing a trend of elite passrushers lining up over RTs for a change. Then we can hopefully bring in one of those highly touted FA LT's.  I'd rather have Armstead, but getting Brown might be better because then it will weaken KC significantly.

True story Rams backup T would be our 2nd best lineman

(02-18-2022, 05:55 PM)Big_Ern Wrote: I'd bet we win that game if we had them 

Idk.  The thought has crossed my mind, but I think if he moves it's to the right tackle spot.  The Bengals don't have a problem paying tackles top money, historically.  If Jonah stays at LT, he's going to get paid a good chunk of money.  They may view it like this: they will need to shell out top-end tackle money next year anyway, barring them hitting the lottery on a draft pick this year, which is highly unlikely, but not impossible.  

Maybe they just pay a current known commodity and move Jonah to the RT spot using the logic that having 2 proven tackles under contract for a year and only paying one a ton of money isn't a bad scenario.  

Look at it this way, regardless of cap space, they will end up paying a tackle a whole lot very soon.  Might as well do it now, pick the one you want, and take advantage of Jonah's rookie cap number for the 2022 season.  Idk how sure they are about giving Jonah the kind of money he'll probably demand.  It's a OL hungry league and his number will undoubtedly be inflated by that fact.

(02-18-2022, 06:41 PM)samhain Wrote: Idk.  The thought has crossed my mind, but I think if he moves it's to the right tackle spot.  The Bengals don't have a problem paying tackles top money, historically.  If Jonah stays at LT, he's going to get paid a good chunk of money.  They may view it like this: they will need to shell out top-end tackle money next year anyway, barring them hitting the lottery on a draft pick this year, which is highly unlikely, but not impossible.  

Maybe they just pay a current known commodity and move Jonah to the RT spot using the logic that having 2 proven tackles under contract for a year and only paying one a ton of money isn't a bad scenario.  

Look at it this way, regardless of cap space, they will end up paying a tackle a whole lot very soon.  Might as well do it now, pick the one you want, and take advantage of Jonah's rookie cap number for the 2022 season.  Idk how sure they are about giving Jonah the kind of money he'll probably demand.  It's a OL hungry league and his number will undoubtedly be inflated by that fact.

I said if we took the two lineman, Creed and the guard, that the Chiefs took in the draft we likely win that game.  We take a guy with back issues who missed sb due to back issues 

I still cant believe a 14M per year CB - who was going to get that from a few teams, not just the Bengals - was unable to play over Eli Apple down the stretch of the most important Franchise games in the last 32 seasons.

Eli Apple was straight up released by one of the worst team in the NFL last October, and he went unsigned to end the last 2 months of 2020.

And he was the guy playing over Trae Waynes in the Super Bowl. That is wild

(02-18-2022, 06:05 PM)ochocincos Wrote: He did improve the OL play.
At least in the run game.

Do the Bengals give Pollack another couple years like they gave Anarumo and Taylor? Or do they only give Pollack this coming year to turn the OL around?

That’s an excellent point, 85!

Frank Pollock did indeed get the run game going; he deserves credit for this. I think he needs one more year if new personnel are not signed and/or drafted and two years if they are.

A thought I had was hiring a second offensive line coach. Let Frank teach run blocking and hire a pass blocking guru to solidify the protection.