I think we have had a great offseason so far, but one move that would really bring the whole thing together for me is if we somehow found a trading partner for Kirkpatrick.

We have so many good corners... I'm not sure if Kirkpatrick is even the 3rd best CB on the squad. Unfortunately, he makes the big bucks, so we will see him out there on Sundays.

Gruden loved him on TNF... can't we ship him that way?

Anywho, I feel bad saying this, but an injury to Kirkpatrick could in theory be a blessing.

Slim odds on trading him at this point, what you guys think?

Yeah, but that dead cap that would result...

Kirkpatrick is an excellent CB and it would be crazy to get rid of him.

I agree that Dre is overpaid. That said, I still think he is an important part of the defense.

Hopefully now that he’ll finally have competition from Dennard and WJ3 it’ll force him to play his best game. We’ve seen him play well before when he was trying to get paid...

I’m not a huge Kirkpatrick fan but it makes no sense to trade him. If we trade him we would only have William Jackson III and Dennard who is injury prone and in the last year of his contract as our only reliable corners. Shaw would have to be our nickle corner and he’s not that good.

I'm waiting to.see what Austin and Jones can do with Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick play regressed when Kevin Coyle came on board as secondary coach
coaching is everthing in the NFL.

Dre has always been trash. Aaron Rodgers n every other quarterback picked on him last year.

(04-29-2018, 10:34 AM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: I think we have had a great offseason so far, but one move that would really bring the whole thing together for me is if we somehow found a trading partner for Kirkpatrick.

We have so many good corners... I'm not sure if Kirkpatrick is even the 3rd best CB on the squad. Unfortunately, he makes the big bucks, so we will see him out there on Sundays.

Gruden loved him on TNF... can't we ship him that way?

Anywho, I feel bad saying this, but an injury to Kirkpatrick could in theory be a blessing.

Slim odds on trading him at this point, what you guys think?

Who are these great 4 or 5 corners we have with NFL experience who will not get burned with rookie mistakes again?

Dennard
Jackson
If no Dre, I don't see one better or close to it than Dre.

Shaw is a safety who is OK.

Help me out, since Jones is gone who else?

I'm not a huge Kirkpatrick fan myself, but, I don't think you get rid of him unless a team offers something crazy which won't happen. So Antonio Brown and Le'veon Bell abused him last year, they abused a lot of other players as well. I think Teryl Austin and Daronte Jones may be able to help Kirkpatrick improve his game. I think he can still become a Pro-Bowler and leader on this team and I think he wants to be that now with Jones gone.

How long until the "Maybe we should move Kirkpatrick to Safety" posts start?

don't be surprised if he has one of his best seasons with Bates roaming center field, he was at his best with Nelson back there, I can't tell you how many times it looked like he was supposed to release a receiver to the safety and Williams or Iloka were out of position and he got "beat" because he had to adjust his coverage without safety help.

If our Offense is unable to put points on the board this season with all the upgrades to the OL and coaching changes, you can pretty much throw in the towel because opposing offenses will shred our secondary this year.

(04-29-2018, 01:31 PM)Bengalitis Wrote: If our Offense is unable to put points on the board this season with all the upgrades to the OL and coaching changes, you can pretty much throw in the towel because opposing offenses will shred our secondary this year.

The facts are our offense lead the league in 3 and outs last year making our defense stay on the field the most of any defense in the NFL. So, yes hopefully our offense can go from 32nd in the league to top 10 to 15 thus relieving some of snaps and pressure placed on the defense in 2017.

I would say the facts show our defense was not shredded in 2017 in spite of our offense not helping our defense at all.

1. A good portion of the Dre contract wasn't that his play earned it as much as the need for stability at corner. You can be excited over rookies but not plan for them to be a big impact. Dennard still needs a long term deal, and they'll continue to move Shaw around. The safety play and coaching as mentioned above can help Dre, but he could become expendable a year from now if these things happen and his play doesn't improve.

2. I don't know if the FO mindset will change, but they don't operate on freeing up cap space to extend "must signs". Everyone has a limit, they've shown theyll let guys walk into FA to find it (or get a comp pick) and they hate dead money.

So if we're trying to cut Dre to free up future money (this year the dead money makes it almost a wash), it may not happen. Though they've invested at DE with youth, it's likely they offer Dunlap and Geno somewhat similar deals and franchise the other. I wish they could just have both now, and I'm sure they have the money to do it, but don't mistake Dre''s contract for standing in the way of these signings.

(04-29-2018, 01:31 PM)Bengalitis Wrote: If our Offense is unable to put points on the board this season with all the upgrades to the OL and coaching changes, you can pretty much throw in the towel because opposing offenses will shred our secondary this year.

Lol what? The secondary is shaping up to be better than it has in years. WJ3 looks like a legit star, Dennard is finally healthy, Pac-Man (who was showing his age) is probably gone, and we added a ball hawking safety.

Do not see any team taking on that contract for that productivity.

(04-29-2018, 10:34 AM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: Anywho, I feel bad saying this, but an injury to Kirkpatrick could in theory be a blessing.

Slim odds on trading him at this point, what you guys think?

That an injury would not be a blessing. Like probably alomst anyone, I'm not the biggest fan, but just because he doesn't play as good as his contract would suggest, he's still a servicable player and we can't just replace him with Shaw or a mid-round rookie CB.

Dre is overpaid for what he brings to the team. However, he is our #3 corner now that Adam Jones is no longer with the team. You need 3 or 4 good corners these days.

Dre can be used better by not putting him on AB. Let Jackson handle AB like Adam Jones use to do for us.

(04-29-2018, 11:13 AM)fredtoast Wrote: Kirkpatrick is an excellent CB and it would be crazy to get rid of him.

I think the problem fans have been seen with Kirkpatrick is due to lack of safety help. Let's see if Jesse Bates the Third can help them out eventually. Kirkpatrick is inconsistent for sure.