(05-01-2017, 01:46 PM)depthchart Wrote: The Bengals bet the Farm that they could build up other areas besides the O-line in the 2017 draft.

John Ross (4.22) and Josh Malone (4.40) add wide receiver speed. (Also have 4.47 Cody Core)

Like Joe Mixon or not he will be a STUD on the field, IMO.

Jordan Willis and Carl Lawson bring some athletic benders to the pass rush.

Had 1st choice of a kicker in Jake Elliott. Hopefully they picked the right one.

DT Ryan Glasgow plays mean and Center JJ Diehlman can develop at guard or center.

LB Jordan Evans ran a 4.50 forty with a 6 foot 3 inch frame to add weight now at 232 pounds.

Corner Brandon Wilson may be a steal. Ran a 4.37 forty at 5 foot 11 and 200 pounds. Knee surgery a year ago dropped his stock from what I understand. I saw ESPN footage and he looked like a 2nd rounder as a strong fluid athlete.

Mason Schreck tight end at 6 foot 5 and 258 pounds is considered a solid blocking tight end that can run well and catch. Looks smart and hard to bring down.

* No Offensive Lineman taken until late round 5, then no others taken.

** This speaks Volumes.

*** The Bengals are not worried about the O-line.

**** After an entire 2016 season of feeling out the Strengths and Weaknesses of what they had, they felt Comfortable letting Zeitler and Whit go. Then comfortable enough to only Draft one lineman and that was late in round 5.

***** The same O-line coach that Drafted and developed Whit is satisfied with what he has to Develop now on the roster.

They likely consider Cedric Ogbuehi to be the biggest question mark with a Plan for how to shift things if Cedric struggles at Left Tackle.

Draft shows they are Satisfied with their O-line Plans, like it or not.

Having HEALTHY WEAPONS virtually everywhere now should take pressure off of the O-line.
The 2016 O-line was depleted of Healthy Weapons like Eifert, AJ, Gio which allowed Defenses to attack it more aggressively. Bring back Eifert, AJ & Gio plus Mixon and John Ross and the O-line may look much better even if it isn't.

This Bet the Bengals have made may just Pan Out well enough for 2017 to be a Good year if the O-line does develop and Weapons stay healthy to keep Defenses honest and on their heals.

they kinda had to hedge their bets on the #1 and #2 draft picks of 2015...   to play to the level we expect them too...   going into their year 3  we need to know if they can play or not.  no way to learn that unless they are on the field.

Plus the OL help just wasn't there in this draft next year will be better for OL prospects.

and the teams that did invest into OL this draft early will probly be releasing vets with experience that we can use as depth

(05-01-2017, 03:43 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Our O line is terrible right now, but they are young.

We have drafted o lineman the last three years with very early draft picks. You play them and hope they pan out at this point.

Yea, you can't just keep throwing picks at the O-Line at this point, especially in this weak O-Line class. At this point, we will live and die by the youth movement up front.

(05-01-2017, 03:45 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Still mad the Bengals didn't address the line in FA. Ogbuehi-Boling-Bodine-Smith-Fisher doesn't look good on paper...to say the least.

To go into the season without some veteran insurance is brazen and foolish.

That said, we'll see if it can be any worse than 41 sacks last year. There's more room to go up than down.

I mean... that lineup looks servicable.

It's gonna come down to Ogbuehi playing LT. If he can hold up, the line will be fine. I think Eric Winston is still on the team for insurance, no?

(05-01-2017, 06:15 PM)PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMousecop Wrote: I mean... that lineup looks servicable.

It's gonna come down to Ogbuehi playing LT. If he can hold up, the line will be fine. I think Eric Winston is still on the team for insurance, no?

The young guys many fans are clamoring for to play quicker (many fans feel ML won't play young guys) now get their shots in year 3. Time will tell if good or bad.

I am hopeful A. Smith is going to surprise us in a good way. The OT's scare me.

I truly believe the Oline will be much better this year. I think OG will improve drastically after an offseason in an NFL training regimen, a full camp and preseason in his natural LT position. Fisher actually looked ok in his time last year. I believe Dre will be a solid guard. And like it or not bodine has improved. I think they will climb to a middle of the pack Oline, which will be plenty good enough.

(05-01-2017, 06:29 PM)The Real Deal Wrote: I truly believe the Oline will be much better this year. I think OG will improve drastically after an offseason in an NFL training regimen, a full camp and preseason in his natural LT position. Fisher actually looked ok in his time last year. I believe Dre will be a solid guard. And like it or not bodine has improved. I think they will climb to a middle of the pack Oline, which will be plenty good enough.

41 sacks in 2016 so an improvement to less than 30 would be over 30% improvement in 2017. If that happens, our offense could be really good.

(05-01-2017, 06:40 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: 41 sacks in so an improvement to less than 30 would be over 30% improvement in 2017. If that happens, our offense could be really good.

https://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-quarterback-sacked-per-game/2016/

Last year we ranked 26th in the league, giving up 41 sacks. The best team in the league was the Oakland raiders, giving up only 18. According to last years numbers, assuming the numbers are somewhat similar, An improvement of just 6 less sacks puts us right in the middle of the pack. If we improve by giving up 11 less sacks we are sitting around 10th in the league.

Now I know this is easier said than done, but I really do think the line will improve this season for the reasons I outlined in another post above. And looking at the numbers I don't think trimming 6-10 sacks off of last years total is out of reach. I think it's very doable actually. And if it happens, I think we will be in great shape this season, with lots to cheer about.

I know fans were concerned about Oline (like Kevin lol), but I did not realize how thin the Bengals were at Oline until I looked a depth chart. It is a concern. I mean Fisher at RT, that is it. I understand Smith could be kicked to RT but can he still play that position. If something happens to Og, who Plays LT? The 5th rounder? I think they will sign one of the UDFA to play tackle or bring in FA vet.

(05-01-2017, 06:15 PM)PlayerFormerlyKnownAsMousecop Wrote: I mean... that lineup looks servicable.

It's gonna come down to Ogbuehi playing LT. If he can hold up, the line will be fine. I think Eric Winston is still on the team for insurance, no?

It's impossible to overstate how awful Ogbuehi was. I still don't like Bodine, but at least he's not a complete dumpster fire. Fisher was meh in the chances he got. Andre is working into a new position and has missed a ton of games...so we could easily see a lot of Westerman or Dielman there. 

I'd say this group isn't even worthy of the word "serviceable" yet. That would imply average, decent or 16th best. As of now I think it's one of the worst groups in the NFL on paper. They can obviously get better and they just might... but they certainly have a lot to prove. Winston can come in for Fisher if needed, but he's obviously not a good lineman. Nobody of note behind Ogbuehi.

(05-01-2017, 06:22 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: The young guys many fans are clamoring for to play quicker (many fans feel ML won't play young guys) now get their shots in year 3. Time will tell if good or bad.

I am hopeful A. Smith is going to surprise us in a good way. The OT's scare me.

I want young players to get a shot. Ogbuehi got a shot and looked awful. So IMO it was silly to go into this season with no real insurance behind him.

I give the Bengals props when I feel they deserve it, but not signing some kind of veteran insurance for Ogbuehi after he was so undeniably awful was a huge gamble IMO.

(05-01-2017, 07:26 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: It's impossible to overstate how awful Ogbuehi was. I still don't like Bodine, but at least he's not a complete dumpster fire. Fisher was meh in the chances he got. Andre is working into a new position and has missed a ton of games...so we could easily see a lot of Westerman or Dielman there. 

I'd say this group isn't even worthy of the word "serviceable" yet. That would imply average, decent or 16th best. As of now I think it's one of the worst groups in the NFL on paper. They can obviously get better and they just might... but they certainly have a lot to prove. Winston can come in for Fisher if needed, but he's obviously not a good lineman. Nobody of note behind Ogbuehi.


I want young players to get a shot. Ogbuehi got a shot and looked awful. So IMO it was silly to go into this season with no real insurance behind him.

I give the Bengals props I feel they deserve it, but not signing some kind of veteran insurance for Ogbuehi after he was so undeniably awful was a huge gamble IMO.

I cannot accept the coaches and FO are not concerned about the disarray the O-Line is in at the moment.  The OC will have to get the ball out of Dalton's hand in 1.5 seconds which means Ross will have to run to a spot in seem route and post routes by LaFell and Green.  Nothing deep.  

(05-01-2017, 07:18 PM)psychdoctor Wrote: I know fans were concerned about Oline (like Kevin lol), but I did not realize how thin the Bengals were at Oline until I looked a depth chart.  It is a concern.  I mean Fisher at RT, that is it.  I understand Smith could be kicked to RT but can he still play that position.  If something happens to Og, who Plays LT?  The 5th rounder?  I think they will sign one of the UDFA to play tackle or bring in FA vet.

I honestly think there's a high likelihood that this happens. They'll wait and see who gets cut after the draft and maybe through preseason.

I hope.

By being a team that improves significantly through drafting, the Bengals shot themselves in the foot this year because they should have tried harder to address the offensive line in Free Agency when they probably knew this years rookie offensive lineman were not going to be very good or even that deep.

There were only like 4 offensive linemen who had the potential of starting Day 1, and none of them were worth the pick at 9, and they were all gone before we picked in the 2nd round.

I can't bash them for not drafting an offensive lineman early in this draft. I can bash for not trying harder in Free Agency with this class of rookies.

I'm thinking we should go full time no huddle.

(05-01-2017, 01:46 PM)depthchart Wrote: The Bengals bet the Farm that they could build up other areas besides the O-line in the 2017 draft.



* No Offensive Lineman taken until late round 5, then no others taken.

** This speaks Volumes.

*** The Bengals are not worried about the O-line.

**** After an entire 2016 season of feeling out the Strengths and Weaknesses of what they had, they felt Comfortable letting Zeitler and Whit go. Then comfortable enough to only Draft one lineman and that was late in round 5.

***** The same O-line coach that Drafted and developed Whit is satisfied with what he has to Develop now on the roster.

According to Jay Glazer and others, the Bengals tried to re-sign Whitworth and went so far as telling other teams at the combine that Whit was for sure returning to the Bengals. I wouldn't call that comfortable with letting him go.

(05-01-2017, 06:40 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: 41 sacks in so an improvement to less than 30 would be over 30% improvement in 2017. If that happens, our offense could be really good.

That will be tough when the two guys that left were responsible for what 3 of those? Beyond that, Oline play is much more than just giving up sacks. They have to be able to open up holes for the running game and they didn't do that well last year either. In the Texans game at the end of the season, Ogbuehi at LT, Bodine at C and Fisher at RT all had grades sub 40. Can they improve? Sure but how much and how fast is a serious question.

Ppl keep saying that Ced is a bust but the same was said after Jake Matthews 1st season with the Falcons and Ced was said to be the better prospect of the two Texas a&m tackles. Let's see how he does this year because he was an projected high 1st rd pick in mocks drafts his draft year.

(05-01-2017, 04:00 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Marvin Lewis did say the offensive line was not a concern.

Typical Marvin.

To be fair, he can't come out and say it's the problem because, with no one worthwhile in the draft, if we don't get any FAs, it would be disheartening to the team to go into the season with a concern on the line.

I highly doubt we do anything in free agency, but maybe we'll be surprised and get a few pieces.  I think our tackles could have just ben experiencing growing pains and could be better.

Hopefully Mixon will be so good that it will keep teams from coming hard on the pass rush.  

More like zero confidence in the o line in this draft.

(05-01-2017, 06:51 PM)The Real Deal Wrote: https://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-quarterback-sacked-per-game/2016/

Last year we ranked 26th in the league, giving up 41 sacks. The best team in the league was the Oakland raiders, giving up only 18. According to last years numbers, assuming the numbers are somewhat similar, An improvement of just 6 less sacks puts us right in the middle of the pack. If we improve by giving up 11 less sacks we are sitting around 10th in the league.

Now I know this is easier said than done, but I really do think the line will improve this season for the reasons I outlined in another post above. And looking at the numbers I don't think trimming 6-10 sacks off of last years total is out of reach. I think it's very doable actually. And if it happens, I think we will be in great shape this season, with lots to cheer about.

(05-01-2017, 10:34 PM)SErebel11 Wrote: That will be tough when the two guys that left were responsible for what 3 of those? Beyond that, Oline play is much more than just giving up sacks. They have to be able to open up holes for the running game and they didn't do that well last year either. In the Texans game at the end of the season, Ogbuehi at LT, Bodine at C and Fisher at RT all had grades sub 40. Can they improve? Sure but how much and how fast is a serious question.

Exacty, SE. 41 sacks with a QB who has an extremely quick release... and Whit/Zeitler were 3 of them.

Now Boling is the best player on your OL. When Boling is your best player, and Bodine is your second best, you're in freaking trouble.

This is going to be some David Carr rookie season level of ugly behind this OL.

While I'm not a big PA fan, I must say he has traditionally done his best work with OT's, which gives me hope.  CedO, by all reports, has been working his tail off since the season ended.

They won't have to be all pro's.  They should make enough improvement to allow all our great weapons to be able to make plays. 

It seems pretty early in the game to have such a defeatist attitude.