The News Sources are Bengals.com, ESPN, Sports Illustrated. So it's pretty official this is happening fast when Free Agency starts.

Bengals have Ted Karras coming in who has been the CENTER on 2 New England Patriot Super Bowls. He is 29 and 6'4' and 305 lbs.

Bengals have Alex Cappa coming in who has been a sold starting RIGHT GUARD for Tampa. He is 27 and 6'6" and 304 lbs.

So things are changing with Bengals Owners. From Max Montoya in early 1990's to Zeitler in 2017, as both left, Mike Brown said in the media both times, " WHY SHOULD I PAY A GUARD ? " . So things are changing with Bengals Ownership. Play-Off Wins, Super Bowl, Deciding to pay a Guard and a Center. It does have the feel that Mike Brown has given up total dictator power to the next generation to run this team.

I will point out that RIGHT TACKLE still remains a GREAT NEED, with Reiff unsigned. Still, THE BENGALS are addressing that they got #1 pick Burrow badly injured in 2020, and Burrow was the most sacked quarterback in the NFL in 2021. Luckily Burrow had a good knee surgeon and doctors made a great knee brace for him. Somehow Burrow played all 21 regular season and play-off to super bowl games, getting hit often with that bad knee. So it is right that Bengals address Protecting The Quarterback in Free Agency.

Bengals.com just made this a topic, so I am posting this as it becomes more official. It's still early, because these 2 won't be really signed until after Free Agency starts after 4 PM tomorrow on Wednesday. There are some posts about one or the other. This is a post about Both, but Bengals still need a Right Tackle. It is a post that BENGALS are Going All Out To Protect Joe Burrow. 30 years of Mike Brown left great doubts to me that they would do this. That the Bengals are doing this shows more signs that Mike Brown has turned over the controls to a new generation breathing new life into this team.

I must add that many in the NFL want to play with Joe Burrow. Cincinnati was never a place Free Agents wanted to come to. The drafting of Joe Burrow has changed that greatly. Good Free Agents on Defense and now on Offense are coming here because Joe Burrow can turn this losing team into a winning team. So to the old Mike Brown question, " Why Should I Pay A Guard ? ". The answer is to Protect this #1 Draft Pick quarterback who has players all over the NFL now wanting to play in Cincinnati unlike before.

So it is good news THE BENGALS added a Veteran Super Bowl CENTER and a veteran starting RIGHT GUARD. These are the positions they should play, don't mess them up and play them out of position. BENGALS need a good CENTER and RIGHT GUARD anyway. This is GOOD NEWS on Bengals.com this morning. Yesterday it was resigning DT Hill. Before that keeping Bates. Now today it is bringing in Top Free Agent Blockers For Burrow. Still need a Solid RIGHT TACKLE or it won't work. Great News this morning on Bengals.com and media that Bengals adding a Top CENTER and a Top RIGHT GUARD is probably going to happen tomorrow.

GO BENGALS. The Road Back To The Super Bowl has Already Started.

If the line doesnt play well with these additions is it the coach?

Thanks for the summary. Was definitely a great start to free agency yesterday.

The mic wagon will play RT and do a good job of it.

I don't know if I'd say they're going "all out" yet just because they signed two IOL.
They need to still sign a good RT (or trade for Collins).
If they really wanted to go "all out," they'd add one more IOL and let Hopkins go. Hopkins isn't a "glass eater" like Pollack says he wants.

(03-15-2022, 10:49 AM)ochocincos Wrote: I don't know if I'd say they're going "all out" yet just because they signed two IOL.
They need to still sign a good RT (or trade for Collins).
If they really wanted to go "all out," they'd add one more IOL and let Hopkins go. Hopkins isn't a "glass eater" like Pollack says he wants.

Yes. In my mind RT and LG are still question marks.

IF they decided to pencil Carman in at LG...our line could still be mediocre.

I think that Cappa is a great signing. Karras should be an upgrade. I'm hoping we get the Karras from last year. At times in his career, he wasn't great.

Isn't that what you do in free agency? You sign a guy based off of their last years performance and hope you meet or exceed that going forward?

(03-15-2022, 11:30 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Yes. In my mind RT and LG are still question marks.

IF they decided to pencil Carman in at LG...our line could still be mediocre.

I think that Cappa is a great signing. Karras should be an upgrade. I'm hoping we get the Karras from last year. At times in his career, he wasn't great.

Isn't that what you do in free agency? You sign a guy based off of their last years performance and hope you meet or exceed that going forward?

I would highly doubt they'd do that.
If they were confident in Carman, they would have given him more snaps in the postseason.

What I would expect is more likely is to either:
1) Start Karras at LG, Hopkins at C, or...
2) Start Karras at C then have a competition at LG between Hopkins, Carman, and Smith

If another IOL is added, I think it would for sure signal Hopkins is gone and likely also not a competition for any IOL spot.

(03-15-2022, 05:48 AM)kevin Wrote: The News Sources are Bengals.com, ESPN, Sports Illustrated. So it's pretty official this is happening fast when Free Agency starts.

Bengals have Ted Karras coming in who has been the CENTER on 2 New England Patriot Super Bowls. He is 29 and 6'4' and 305 lbs.

Bengals have Alex Cappa coming in who has been a sold starting RIGHT GUARD for Tampa. He is 27 and 6'6" and 304 lbs.

So things are changing with Bengals Owners. From Max Montoya in early 1990's to Zeitler in 2017, as both left, Mike Brown said in the media both times, " WHY SHOULD I PAY A GUARD ? " . So things are changing with Bengals Ownership. Play-Off Wins, Super Bowl, Deciding to pay a Guard and a Center. It does have the feel that Mike Brown has given up total dictator power to the next generation to run this team.

I will point out that RIGHT TACKLE still remains a GREAT NEED, with Reiff unsigned. Still, THE BENGALS are addressing that they got #1 pick Burrow badly injured in 2020, and Burrow was the most sacked quarterback in the NFL in 2021. Luckily Burrow had a good knee surgeon and doctors made a great knee brace for him. Somehow Burrow played all 21 regular season and play-off to super bowl games, getting hit often with that bad knee. So it is right that Bengals address Protecting The Quarterback in Free Agency.

Bengals.com just made this a topic, so I am posting this as it becomes more official. It's still early, because these 2 won't be really signed until after Free Agency starts after 4 PM tomorrow on Wednesday. There are some posts about one or the other. This is a post about Both, but Bengals still need a Right Tackle. It is a post that BENGALS are Going All Out To Protect Joe Burrow. 30 years of Mike Brown left great doubts to me that they would do this. That the Bengals are doing this shows more signs that Mike Brown has turned over the controls to a new generation breathing new life into this team.

I must add that many in the NFL want to play with Joe Burrow. Cincinnati was never a place Free Agents wanted to come to. The drafting of Joe Burrow has changed that greatly. Good Free Agents on Defense and now on Offense are coming here because Joe Burrow can turn this losing team into a winning team. So to the old Mike Brown question, " Why Should I Pay A Guard ? ". The answer is to Protect this #1 Draft Pick quarterback who has players all over the NFL now wanting to play in Cincinnati unlike before.

So it is good news THE BENGALS added a Veteran Super Bowl CENTER and a veteran starting RIGHT GUARD. These are the positions they should play, don't mess them up and play them out of position. BENGALS need a good CENTER and RIGHT GUARD anyway. This is GOOD NEWS on Bengals.com this morning. Yesterday it was resigning DT Hill. Before that keeping Bates. Now today it is bringing in Top Free Agent Blockers For Burrow. Still need a Solid RIGHT TACKLE or it won't work. Great News this morning on Bengals.com and media that Bengals adding a Top CENTER and a Top RIGHT GUARD is probably going to happen tomorrow.

GO BENGALS. The Road Back To The Super Bowl has Already Started.

I don’t agree that the Bengals have gone all out to protect Joe Burrow.I like what they’ve done so far,but until they bring in another quality lineman,( Hopefully a RT),Collins maybe,I personally don’t consider this all out.But,I believe by all means that they desperately need to go all out on this OL.Joe Burrow’s first year was absolutely brutal.Ended up getting his knee shredded in game 10.But the Bengals had seen enough of him by that time to know they had a super star in the making.

He comes back the following year,after a long,and grueling rehab,to be sacked more than any Quarterback in the league.Set a record for most sacks in the postseason.Burrow has worked his butt off for this team,and anything short of going all out on this OL is unacceptable in my view.

Tretter at center is a distinct possibility. He's older so I don't think the deal will be longer than 2-3 years and of course it always comes down to the money. But I think he was rated second. Best at past protection last year and the dude would elevate the line like Richie did back in the days.

(03-15-2022, 07:07 PM)psychdoctor Wrote: Tretter at center is a distinct possibility. He's older so I don't think the deal will be longer than 2-3 years and of course it always comes down to the money.  But I think he was rated second. Best at past protection last year and the dude would elevate the line like Richie did back in the days.

If they signed Karras to be the starting C...they shouldn't sign another C to start over him 2 days later.

(03-15-2022, 07:14 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: If they signed Karras to be the starting C...they shouldn't sign another C to start over him 2 days later.

Karras has taken a lot of snaps at left guard. I don't know this the grading but I think he's a better guard than he is at center but I'm not sure.

(03-15-2022, 07:14 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: If they signed Karras to be the starting C...they shouldn't sign another C to start over him 2 days later.

Karras gets paid the same regardless and has played well at LG.  Does he want playoff wins and a SB or to sit in a corner and pout because he doesn't get to play touchy feely with JB every down.  These are grown men, not kindergartners.

All out? The curse of lowered expectations....

All out is adding Tretter and Collins.

(03-15-2022, 07:14 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: If they signed Karras to be the starting C...they shouldn't sign another C to start over him 2 days later.

Personally Karras may be better at G. It's not Ideal and not going all out like OP stated but if I have to choose between him at C and Spain at G. Id go with Hop at C

Is this thread like a blog that tells us what we already know?

It seems like we still only have 3 of the 5 positions with solid starters we still need 2 more. Jackson Carman was pretty bad and still has an injury history with his back, no way I would count on him this season, he is barely dependable as a backup.

(03-15-2022, 08:07 PM)AtomicBlaze Wrote: It seems like we still only have 3 of the 5 positions with solid starters we still need 2 more.  Jackson Carman was pretty bad and still has an injury history with his back, no way I would count on him this season, he is barely dependable as a backup.

Yes. Starting to be slightly concerned.

Daniels to Steelers. Moses to Ravens 3 years $15 million. Would have been happy if we signed him.

We still need a RT, LG, TE, and CB.

We're fighting to win a SB so we need solid guys.

(03-15-2022, 07:22 PM)Stewy Wrote: Karras gets paid the same regardless and has played well at LG.  Does he want playoff wins and a SB or to sit in a corner and pout because he doesn't get to play touchy feely with JB every down.  These are grown men, not kindergartners.

I don't know, I think most of us would be upset if we were going to get paid to have Joe Burrow put his hands between our legs only to be told we're going to stand next to the man who gets paid to have Joe Burrow put his hands between his legs.

(03-15-2022, 10:46 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Yes. Starting to be slightly concerned.

Daniels to Steelers. Moses to Ravens 3 years $15 million. Would have been happy if we signed him.

We still need a RT, LG, TE, and CB.

We're fighting to win a SB so we need solid guys.

We were never getting 4 new starters from FA on the OL. Doesn’t mean if someone falls in our lap we don’t do it, like Tretter or Collins. But it wasn’t a plan IMHO