We are all diehards if we took the time to make an account here so i won’t draw out the question.

How many of the 53 roster spots actually matter? Obviously 22.

So 53-22=31. At LEAST another 11 are important rotational guys.

So 31-11=20. You get 7 draft picks a year so let’s just say you rock as a scout and all 7 of your draft picks are important.

So 20-7=13


How many of these 13 spots actually matter?

I’m of the opinion that EVERY single spot matters.

I go into every season thinking ALL 53 players will have at least 1 nexus event that will lead to a win or a loss.

So if you see me on here caring a little too much about the last roster spots that is why. Lol

(08-30-2023, 09:38 PM)Housh Wrote: We are all diehards if we took the time to make an account here so i won’t draw out the question.

How many of the 53 roster spots actually matter? Obviously 22.

So 53-22=31. At LEAST another 11 are important rotational guys.

So 31-11=20. You get 7 draft picks a year so let’s just say you rock as a scout and all 7 of your draft picks are important.

So 20-7=13


How many of these 13 spots actually matter?

I’m of the opinion that EVERY single spot matters.

I go into every season thinking ALL 53 players will have at least 1 nexus event that will lead to a win or a loss.

So if you see me on here caring a little too much about the last roster spots that is why. Lol

I agree at some point all 53 may eventually have some impact. But how much of that is a positive or negative impact? We've seen the bottom of our OL depth have nexus events but unfortunately they weren't always to our benefit. 

I think for the typical inactives on the roster, who still make the 53, they can likely be replaced with most people from the PS and give similar results. So in that regard I don't think they're THAT vital to success. Obviously there's outliers but overall I don't think they actually matter that much. 

You have to define important.

If important is, who will affect wins the most, then on offense there's 1 guy. On defense, the Bengals could lose 2 or 3 and not really affect wins too much, so we'll say 4 on defense. 

So, there's 5 guys on this team that are important.

Good point about the entire roster but I go into each season hoping that at least 2 of the 53 never have any real impact on the season at all. I’m sure you can guess which 2 but if you can’t then here’s you’re hint - they play the same position as #9.

For practice purposes, they are all important. On game day 48 of them are

Hmm.. matter. PFF has trying to develop a WAR score for players. IMO not very successfully. There is no way to measure plays that aren't even tried because of defensive personnel. And Bengals fans know that the drop-off to an average backup doesn't mean much when the backups aren't even average. That being said, I always have the impression that teams stash a few players that they hope will develop but don't. I don't think that I want to say a player "matters" because they are bad. There are also a few players that never see the field J. Bates and Von Bell both played 98+% of the defensive plays. So I'd say 41-43 matter.

It all starts in the trenches on both sides of the ball and then there is the QB and he better have WR's that catch the ball.

Bottom line if you have great blocking and great tackling you are going to be a great team along with a great QB and great WR's.

Any decent RB should be able to run behind great blocking and a Defense that tackles well makes it harder for any Offense to go
all the way down the field on tons of plays trying to score TD's.

I’d say about 40 are critical. You are looking at 22 plus about 12 backup half for each side of the ball. You need a fourth WR, a third tackle etc. and etc. Then you need a good backup center and TE.

Last year...

24 guys played >1% of the offensive snaps for the Bengals
28 guys played >1% of the defensive snaps for the Bengals
8 guys played >1% of the special teams snaps for the Bengals but <1% played on offense or defense

Then you have Clark Harris who played .92%, but was clearly important so probably deserves mention.

That's 61 guys.

11 on offense
11 on defense
Punter
Kicker
Holder

That’s 25.

The rest are situational and are riding the pine for a reason.

(08-30-2023, 09:38 PM)Housh Wrote: We are all diehards if we took the time to make an account here so i won’t draw out the question.

How many of the 53 roster spots actually matter? Obviously 22.

So 53-22=31. At LEAST another 11 are important rotational guys.

So 31-11=20. You get 7 draft picks a year so let’s just say you rock as a scout and all 7 of your draft picks are important.

So 20-7=13


How many of these 13 spots actually matter?

I’m of the opinion that EVERY single spot matters.

I go into every season thinking ALL 53 players will have at least 1 nexus event that will lead to a win or a loss.

So if you see me on here caring a little too much about the last roster spots that is why. Lol

I think you can just look at the snap count percentages to see important ones.

14 players last year had 25% or more offensive snaps.
16 players last year had 25% or more defensive snaps.
And then the LS, P, and K obviously.


I'd say out of the backups, TE2, RB2, WR4 are valuable on offense. Those guys will get rotated in based on the play call.
For defense, you're looking at a pretty heavy rotation of 8 DL, although backup NT barely made the cut. It's primarily 4 DEs, 3 DTs getting used.
Not really a bunch of 3-LB sets, so I wouldn't say LB3, but I could see someone arguing it's used "enough" to count it.
Bengals really haven't used many 3-safety looks, so I won't say SAF3 right now, but it might be if they tried to use that look more.
CB4 is definitely important since there's almost always some CB injury going on.

(09-01-2023, 01:40 PM)Graphicguy Wrote: 11 on offense
11 on defense
Punter
Kicker
Holder

That’s 25.

The rest are situational and are riding the pine for a reason.

Situational players are important to match up against the opponent's personnel or to take advantage of an opponent's weakness.  I'd consider that important.

As much as Bengals' fans complain of injuries, I would think depth would be important, too.

(09-01-2023, 02:10 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I think you can just look at the snap count percentages to see important ones.

14 players last year had 25% or more offensive snaps.
16 players last year had 25% or more defensive snaps.
And then the LS, P, and K obviously.


I'd say out of the backups, TE2, RB2, WR4 are valuable on offense. Those guys will get rotated in based on the play call.
For defense, you're looking at a pretty heavy rotation of 8 DL, although backup NT barely made the cut. It's primarily 4 DEs, 3 DTs getting used.
Not really a bunch of 3-LB sets, so I wouldn't say LB3, but I could see someone arguing it's used "enough" to count it.
Bengals really haven't used many 3-safety looks, so I won't say SAF3 right now, but it might be if they tried to use that look more.
CB4 is definitely important since there's almost always some CB injury going on.

The fabled 3 safety look will never catch on here even if Tycen is a star. I think we’d just play him over Battle or Scott. I could see Tycen riding special teams pine all year into a random start and he’s just gonna have to make noise when his chance with the 1s does come, because imo it eventually will. Either Scott is gonna underperform or someone will get hurt at some point even if just for a half of a game

Ask me week 17.

1

(08-30-2023, 09:38 PM)Housh Wrote: We are all diehards if we took the time to make an account here so i won’t draw out the question.

How many of the 53 roster spots actually matter? Obviously 22.

So 53-22=31. At LEAST another 11 are important rotational guys.

So 31-11=20. You get 7 draft picks a year so let’s just say you rock as a scout and all 7 of your draft picks are important.

So 20-7=13


How many of these 13 spots actually matter?

I’m of the opinion that EVERY single spot matters.

I go into every season thinking ALL 53 players will have at least 1 nexus event that will lead to a win or a loss.

So if you see me on here caring a little too much about the last roster spots that is why. Lol

I'm with you ... every spot's important.  Not every game, but somewhere down the line everyone on the roster is going to have to contribute somewhere just because of injuries.

Do they have to be worldbeaters?  No... and cap restrictions dictate that they can't be, but the coaching staff needs to be able to adjust to maximize strengths and mitigate weaknesses and the FO needs to work to provide the best players for them to do that.

They're all important, otherwise the owners wouldn't have 53 spots on the roster.

And there are actually more than 53 that are important. Look at how the current PS rules allow veterans on the squad, and how guys are called up multiple times during the season. If less than 53 guys were important, those current rules wouldn't exist.

(09-01-2023, 03:57 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Situational players are important to match up against the opponent's personnel or to take advantage of an opponent's weakness.  I'd consider that important.

As much as Bengals' fans complain of injuries, I would think depth would be important, too.

To play a game, those who are starting are the most important. That’s why they’re starting. The rest are supporting cast. Not saying they aren’t important. Starters are more important, though. And, that was the question.

(09-02-2023, 10:08 AM)Graphicguy Wrote: To play a game, those who are starting are the most important. That’s why they’re starting. The rest are supporting cast. Not saying they aren’t important. Starters are more important, though. And, that was the question.

No, it wasn’t. The question was who is actually important, not more important.

If a player is a 3rd down pass rush specialist that helps prevent the opponent from converting 3rd down that player is “actually important.”

Known knowns and unknown knowns.. You never know all the knowns until the games have all been played ..