Yesterday on Sirius, because of the release of BRADBURY, the subject was: 1 signing you think your team needs to improve. The crazy thing is I was unsure. Usually I can rattle off 4-5, but we damn sure don't need Bradbury or do we.

Some will point to LG (or C and move Karras to RG), but I think we need to give Jackson one more year. I don't think I'd bench him for the likes of Spain (and I love Spain)

Some will say TE and this has merit if we're talking TE #2. But with Chase, Higgins, Boyd, Mixon, Hayden all in the mix how much of a need is TE#2. WTS I wouldn't be mad if Jimmy Graham wanted to give it one more run with a contender.

IMO at this point you have to look at: The biggest drop off if your starter goes down. So my one is:

NICK FOLES/QB. We know he can lead a team to the Super Bowl if the starter goes down and is a class act.

Interior Rusher- I'm not sure if either Carter or Sample are up for the Job.

Bradberry*

1 signing?

Larry.

(05-11-2022, 02:31 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Yesterday on Sirius, because of the release of BRADBURY, the subject was: 1 signing you think your team needs to improve. The crazy thing is I was unsure. Usually I can rattle off 4-5, but we damn sure don't need Bradbury or do we.

Some will point to LG (or C and move Karras to RG), but I think we need to give Jackson one more year. I don't think I'd bench him for the likes of Spain (and I love Spain)

Some will say TE and this has merit if we're talking TE #2. But with Chase, Higgins, Boyd, Mixon, Hayden all in the mix how much of a need is TE#2. WTS I wouldn't be mad if Jimmy Graham wanted to give it one more run with a contender.

IMO at this point you have to look at: The biggest drop off if your starter goes down. So my one is:

NICK FOLES/QB. We know he can lead a team to the Super Bowl if the starter goes down and is a class act.

If money is not an issue I’d take J C Tretter. Lots can be said for Foles or even Will Fuller but the OL sneaks near top 5 status not top 10 and it sure helps depth in the OL

There are no spots we NEED to upgrade but there are a handful I’d like to see the bengals bring in some insurance for. I’ll list them in order so if I can only choose one give me a solid vet WR4 capable of playing on the outside.

1- WR- there are many vets out there that we could add for $1-4 mil on a one year deal. Give me one who could give us 700-800 yards if he was a starter. If we lose one of our top 3 WR’s we have nothing behind them. The Rams needed about 5-6 legitimate starters last year to make win the Super Bowl and we only have 3.
2- Foles QB. Not sure there is anyone else out there id want to spend money on at this point at QB but Foles is a no brainer if he’s affordable. With this team he could have another magical Eagles type run if the worst ever happened. He’d at least help us survive a few games if Joe goes down temporarily.
3- Bradbury or another vet CB to be CB4 or even 5 early and compete with CTB. Not a glaring need after the draft but this is our year, better to have too many guys than not enough.
4-OL. I’d love to bring Spain back for a million or so under the understanding that he will be a backup. He would be a huge luxury as a backup. If not him I’d love to see a G/C combo as I don’t have faith in Hill so far if needed at C. Even Reiff if he comes cheap to be a backup. I’m not overly concerned about OL at this point but one more solid backup vet won’t hurt to have when we will hopefully be playing 20+ games again this year.



Any addition at this point has to come at a reasonable price tag like all of my suggestions. I don’t see much talent out there worth spending big on especially with our lack of holes at this point. I’m not interested in breaking the bank or really even giving out multi year deals. I would like to see an improvement here or there to our depth for this season though. We could even afford to add a TE/WR for depth if the right guy is there. Basically every spot could be upgraded. I’m ok with LB and Safety depth but outside of that I wouldn’t rule out any spot on O/D

I'd say a 4th receiver.

At this point if we add a body to the DLine, someone we "like" is getting cut.

Wideout is really the only spot worthy of a FA if we refusing to consider moving Karras.

Can we upgrade RB #2 or at least add better competition (legit) to the room for that spot? I think we can even though I like Evans, but is he ready to pass protect, and are we really ok if Mixon gets.... Well I won't say it.

Jarvis Landry.

But actually, I'd like Bradberry. I do think a top notch CB opposite Awuzie would do quite some good. If the latter happens to be hurt, we'd have Apple and a second round rookie as starters, or maybe Hill, but nothing I'd be too comfortable with.

At this point, there's probably no full-fledged starter I'd look to bring in based on who is available.

I could definitely lean WR since the drop off after Boyd is pretty big.
If something happens to Boyd, Higgins, or Chase, that replacement WR is going to STRUGGLE.
Will Fuller is probably on most people's minds, but he fragile.
I personally like DeDe Westbrook.
Westbrook also offers quality PR ability that some of the other veteran WRs don't.

I could also lean Ereck Flowers.
Dude has shown he's just a mediocre OT but a rather good OG.
Flowers can definitely push Carman for a starting spot but also offer great versatility if he's the first guy off the bench.

Interior DL or backup QB.

Backup QB could literally be the difference between a playoff birth or not. They can bridge the cap for a game or two when the starter comes back. It's shameful that we didn't at least look at upgrading this off-season.

By my estimates of who is on the 53, we have around $14+ mil in cap space. I onow we like to keep some back for cuts or in season moves, but surely we have one more move in the cards, maybe two. Looking at how camp goes would be prudent. How do Carman, Hill, CTB, Carter, Shelvin, Volson, Kareem, C. Sample and others look?

For me, I'd go:

1) JC Tretter. Move Karras to LG. If Carman/Volson/Smith can beat him out, great. If not, then let them develop. Time for Joe to throw and lanes for other Joe to run are the things that will make the offense go. And our reserve receivers more effective.

2) Another OL player. Reif. Spain. A FA. Betting on our young OL guys to come good has not worked out lately. I do not have a lot of confidence in Carman, Adeniji, Prince, and Hill to be competent guys. Nor Volson.

3) Pass rush. Interior or outside. We have bodies. Hendrickson, Hubbard, Ossai, Reader, BJ Hill, Tupou, Kareem, Carter, Cam Sample, Shelvin, Hubert, Gunter. I don't anticipate much from anyone beyond Tupou. Though PFF lived Kareem last year.

4) Receiving depth. WR4 or TE3. Or both. Landry looks like a good bet.

Tretter is probably the best player out there for this team. I’d choose him.

A lot of people are saying Tretter, but the guy never practiced last year due to his knee issues. I don't know that he'd be a guy I'd want on the roster.

The obvious largest drop-off from starter to back up is Collins to Prince, and quite frankly it's not even close.

I could go backup QB but I'd still like to see a experienced vet that's a proven contributor at WR.

So WR

If we can just arbitrarily sign one of any current FA, then my choice is to sign Gronk.

If we're talking a single more realistic move (since it still seems Gronk is just biding his time to rejoin the Bucs)... sign Tretter at C, move Karras to LG. It's the biggest single move available from a team-improvement standpoint that I can see right now.

Don't even care if Tretter needs to take practices off for his knees. The only snaps he has missed in the last 5 years was the 1 game he missed in 2021 with COVID. That's toughness and reliability, regardless of the practicing.

(05-11-2022, 04:32 PM)Hammerstripes Wrote: A lot of people are saying Tretter, but the guy never practiced last year due to his knee issues.  I don't know that he'd be a guy I'd want on the roster.

The obvious largest drop-off from starter to back up is Collins to Prince, and quite frankly it's not even close.

Burrow to Allen?

If they bring on a receiver, that receiver must have speed to provide a useful addition I think. We only have one fast receiver (Chase), and a backup is a decently significant need. Jarvis Landry is definitely not fast, so I don't think he's the one. Will Fuller would be a dream, but I doubt they bring anyone in.

(05-11-2022, 05:26 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Burrow to Allen?

Yep.  I think Allen is functional and can win some games if he gets the entire week of preparation.  I don't think Prince is that good.

But, you'll always heavily depend on your QB and they are paid that way.  We'd have to spend a fortune to have a small drop off between Burrow and the backup.

(05-11-2022, 05:33 PM)Hammerstripes Wrote: Yep.  I think Allen is functional and can win some games if he gets the entire week of preparation.  I don't think Prince is that good.

But, you'll always heavily depend on your QB and they are paid that way.  We'd have to spend a fortune to have a small drop off between Burrow and the backup.

Well we did make it to the Superbowl with Price at RT and that was with garbage beside him at RG; doubt we come close with Allen at the helm

(05-11-2022, 05:34 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Well we did make it to the Superbowl with Price at RT and that was with garbage beside him at RG; doubt we come close with Allen at the helm

You never know, and hopefully we won't ever have to find out.  That just goes to show how much a QB can effect the game.

RB

Would love to have a two headed monster rushing attack this year.

People talk about being thin at WR but if Mixon gets hurt you're going to see thin.