Before we start talking about "upgrading" we need to address "replacing".  Right now the following positions are missing the starter from 2018.

OFFENSE
RT...Hart is a free agent (as are Fisher, Smith, and Ogbuehi)

RG...Redmond is free agent (as is Trey Hopkins)

TE...Eifert, Uzomah, and Kroft are all free agents.


DEFENSE
LB...Preston Brown is a free agent.

CB...Dennard is a free agent (nickel corner usually plays twice as many snaps as one of the starting LBs in a 4-3)

DE...Michael Johnson is a free agent.


Possible new starters already here....Hubbard should step in for Johnson.  Some people think Westerman can start at OG, but I have yet to be convinced.

Possible free agents re-signed.....I think we will re-sign Dennard.  Some of the others may be re-signed, but none of them look especially worthy of starting.  The only exception is Preston Brown.  I wonder if he just struggled due to his injury early in the season?

So ther than Hubbard and Dennard that leaves 4 holes with no returning starter.  You can't bet on more than one or two starters from the draft.  So we pretty much have to sign 2 or 3 starters in free agency.

I’m ok with Hart and Og leaving town. As for TE, I’m so done with Eifert. Although the last injury was nothing he could avoid (I guess most injuries could be labeled as such) he still is prone to injuries.not sure about Johnson.

Michael Johnson- Hubbard and Lawson are already a lot better than Michael Johnson. Johnson no doubt deserves a Bengal ring of honor distinction but his time is up.
Preston Brown- should be replaced in free agency. My pick would KJ wright from Seattle
Dennard- agreed should be resigned

Offense
TEs- CJ will be resigned but both Kroft and Eifert will be let go. Probably looking at a TE in the draft and free agency.
Hart- next- first RD pick most likely.
Redmond- should be nexted but I think he is RFA

I'd consider resigning Brown, Kroft and Uzomah.

Hart and Redmond are awful and penalty machines to boot. Only way I'd resign Eifert is on a league minimum salary with performance bonuses,

MJ shouldn't even have been here last season. Dennard just isn't worth what he'll want.

(01-19-2019, 04:43 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Before we start talking about "upgrading" we need to address "replacing".  Right now the following positions are missing the starter from 2018.

Why not do both, simultaneously?  Replace the "missing" starters with upgrades to the positions.

(01-19-2019, 04:43 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Before we start talking about "upgrading" we need to address "replacing".  Right now the following positions are missing the starter from 2018.

OFFENSE
RT...Hart is a free agent (as are Fisher, Smith, and Ogbuehi)

RG...Redmond is free agent (as is Trey Hopkins)

TE...Eifert, Uzomah, and Kroft are all free agents.


DEFENSE
LB...Preston Brown is a free agent.

CB...Dennard is a free agent (nickel corner usually plays twice as many snaps as one of the starting LBs in a 4-3)

DE...Michael Johnson is a free agent.


Possible new starters already here....Hubbard should step in for Johnson.  Some people think Westerberg can start at OG, but I have yet to be convinced.

Possible free agents re-signed.....I think we will re-sign Dennard.  Some of the others may be re-signed, but none of them look especially worthy of starting.  The only exception is Preston Brown.  I wonder if he just struggled due to his injury early in the season?

So ther than Hubbard and Dennard that leaves 4 holes with no returning starter.  You can't bet on more than one or two starters from the draft.  So we pretty much have to sign 2 or 3 starters in free agency.

Nice, not too bad, not too bad at all. Bring back a couple of the TE's and Dennard.

Get a Guard or a Tackle in FA, draft the position on the O-line we didn't get in FA.

Wouldn't mind bringing back Preston either, thought he did alright considering he was injured all year, made a couple nice picks.

(01-19-2019, 04:43 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Before we start talking about "upgrading" we need to address "replacing".  Right now the following positions are missing the starter from 2018.

OFFENSE
RT...Hart is a free agent (as are Fisher, Smith, and Ogbuehi)

RG...Redmond is free agent (as is Trey Hopkins)

TE...Eifert, Uzomah, and Kroft are all free agents.


DEFENSE
LB...Preston Brown is a free agent.

CB...Dennard is a free agent (nickel corner usually plays twice as many snaps as one of the starting LBs in a 4-3)

DE...Michael Johnson is a free agent.


Possible new starters already here....Hubbard should step in for Johnson.  Some people think Westerberg can start at OG, but I have yet to be convinced.

Possible free agents re-signed.....I think we will re-sign Dennard.  Some of the others may be re-signed, but none of them look especially worthy of starting.  The only exception is Preston Brown.  I wonder if he just struggled due to his injury early in the season?

So ther than Hubbard and Dennard that leaves 4 holes with no returning starter.  You can't bet on more than one or two starters from the draft.  So we pretty much have to sign 2 or 3 starters in free agency.

Some of the same areas needing upgrading very badly also seem to be the areas where players are leaving. This is good for us.

The right side of the line is a mess and we are losing 3 guys (Hart, Ogbuehi and Fisher) who blow anyways. We should address RT in the draft and early on.

RG is the same really. We need to draft one. Or draft a C and move Price to RG. Westerman only seems to go in at LG or maybe I missed him playing some RG.

LB, same as the OL. We can bring back Brown, but he isn't the answer we need. We need to draft two fast LBers who can cover, and who can contribute this year.

If we address RT, RG and LB, as upgrades, this team will be in a markedly better situation personnel wise.


We can re-sign 2 of the following Eifert, Kroft and Uzomah.


Dennard I believe should be re-signed, unless we really want to spend a high pick on a corner, which I see OT, RG and LB as much more needy positions.

Michael Johnson isn't going to have many suitors, if any at all. We can bring him back for relatively cheap.

 

I have a bad feeling Hart will be back. The crop of OT's in the draft is not impressive and the Bengals hate to spend big bucks in free-agency.

Westerman is reportedly a brute when it comes to north and south, but his lateral movement leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe a new OL coach can help that, but if Pollack couldn't fix him, I doubt anyone else can either. Redmond needs his hearing checked. Brown and Dennard should both be resigned, as well as Eifert, Uzo and Kroft. All 3 have shown they can play at a high level

(01-19-2019, 04:43 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Before we start talking about "upgrading" we need to address "replacing".  Right now the following positions are missing the starter from 2018.

OFFENSE
RT...Hart is a free agent (as are Fisher, Smith, and Ogbuehi)

RG...Redmond is free agent (as is Trey Hopkins)

TE...Eifert, Uzomah, and Kroft are all free agents.


DEFENSE
LB...Preston Brown is a free agent.

CB...Dennard is a free agent (nickel corner usually plays twice as many snaps as one of the starting LBs in a 4-3)

DE...Michael Johnson is a free agent.


Possible new starters already here....Hubbard should step in for Johnson.  Some people think Westerberg can start at OG, but I have yet to be convinced.

Possible free agents re-signed.....I think we will re-sign Dennard.  Some of the others may be re-signed, but none of them look especially worthy of starting.  The only exception is Preston Brown.  I wonder if he just struggled due to his injury early in the season?

So ther than Hubbard and Dennard that leaves 4 holes with no returning starter.  You can't bet on more than one or two starters from the draft.  So we pretty much have to sign 2 or 3 starters in free agency.

Good post! I'll give my opinions so here's my take:

Offense:
1) I'd bring back Hart on another 1 year deal say @ 1 million as a backup.
2) Hopkins-good G/C type I'd bring back.
3) Uzomah-as a #3 is ok
--I think the rest we let walk, I think we sign a TE in FA and draft one fairly early.

Defense:
1) Hubbard and Lawson will fill MJ's spot at DE
2) Dennard I'd bring back but not more than 6 per year.

-I'd really like to address the defense in FA, I think we could land a solid ILB and a good #4 guy here for depth and then draft one early.

Honestly, Dennard and maybe Brown are the only 2 that I'd remotely want back.

IF we let the others go and replace them via the draft or with decent free agents...the team gets better.

Brown was really underwhelming.

With all of these FA contracts coming up it makes me wonder if the new front office/coaching regime change wasn't the plan all along?

It sure would allow for the new HC and Coordinators to shape the team.

Just a thought.

This team badly needs coverage LBs.

That's why most of them should be let go.

Hart is possibly the worst lineman I've ever seen in stripes.

He continues his terrible play from the Giants = uncoachable flop.

Why would any newcomer coach want to stake their rep on this guy?

Child please.

Westerman is okay for line depth.

Redmond needs to take his penalty machine ass along with Ced O train out of town.

As another poster said. MJ had his time and now it's done.

Think Geathers 2.0

Dennard can be resigned but will fall into the line of okay players this team has had that get overpaid somewhere else.

Like past players such as Hawkins, Fanane, Sanu, Rucker.

Would be okay to keep but not terrible losses either.

I'm hope the the bring in a free agent tackle or guard I don't want to have a second year center and rookie right side of the O-line.

Only players I bring back is Hopkins and two of the TE which ever is the most affordable.

I would sign two O-line man and at least one LB

I think they should resign Uzo if possible.

For the most part he has stepped in admirably when called upon. He would be a great TE#2 IMO.

(01-20-2019, 02:02 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: I think they should resign Uzo if possible.

For the most part he has stepped in admirably when called upon. He would be a great TE#2 IMO.

If ZT is bringing the Rams offense with him, I wonder just how important the TE will even be.  The TE is not featured in that system.   Now, supposedly, he'll put some of his own spin on it, so he might be different.

(01-20-2019, 02:11 PM)McC Wrote: If ZT is bringing the Rams offense with him, I wonder just how important the TE will even be.  The TE is not featured in that system.   Now, supposedly, he'll put some of his own spin on it, so he might be different.

I would think that if ZT rolls with Dalton that he'd see historically that TE is important.

If that's the case I'd still bring back Eifert on an incentive based contract, keep UZ, and let Kroft walk unless they can get him cheap.

Maybe keep Franks around for PS.

Not a fan of Schrek.  He coughs up the ball too much.

I'm just flabbergasted that nobody seems to want to offer Ogbuihi a long term contract despite his ability to hold down the bench during games. 

(01-20-2019, 05:10 PM)grampahol Wrote: I'm just flabbergasted that nobody seems to want to offer Ogbuihi a long term contract despite his ability to hold down the bench during games. 

It's probably because he couldn't even block a pipsqueak like Baker Mayfield from punking Hue Jackson on the bench.

Speaking of Baker... He claimed that he owned the Bengals during some stupid skit with Cooper Manning on the pregame show a little while ago. He's a special kind if douchebag.

(01-20-2019, 02:58 PM)BengalsRocker Wrote: I would think that if ZT rolls with Dalton that he'd see historically that TE is important.

If that's the case I'd still bring back Eifert on an incentive based contract, keep UZ, and let Kroft walk unless they can get him cheap.

Maybe keep Franks around for PS.

Not a fan of Schrek.  He coughs up the ball too much.

I disagree. There's a lot to like about Mason Schreck. It's not as if he's had years of coughing up the ball. He wasn't in that many plays to make such a claim, but whatever.. https://www.cincyjungle.com/2018/9/8/17811578/why-keeping-mason-schreck-bengals-53-man-roster-no-brainer-cincinnati-tight-end