(09-22-2017, 03:20 PM)PhilHos Wrote: As I've said before, I don't think the issue is that they drafted 2 tackles to replace Whit and whomever. The issue is after seeing how bad the OL was last year they did NOTHING to address it this past offseason.

(09-22-2017, 03:24 PM)BengalHawk62 Wrote: I can't agree with that statement.  Andre Smith came back.......right or wrong, we did sign him back. 

(09-22-2017, 03:37 PM)PhilHos Wrote: That does nothing to fix the OL issues from last year. 

(09-17-2017, 11:23 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Obviously a lot of talk about the oline and everyone can see it is a work in progress. However, the one constant comment I see that doesn't seem to be based on reality is that the Bengals didn't "address" the oline.

In 2015 we realized that Whit was getting a little long in the tooth and Andre Smith was on the final year of his contract. So we draft 2 OTs in each of the first 2 rounds of the draft. Despite the amateur experts in this forum both were considered high draft choices and great prospects. Both were All Americans their final year (Walter Camp/Football writers).

The plan was perfect. Give Ced a "red shirt" year to heal while we didn't need him and let Jake get experience all along the oline. Andre leaves in 2016 and Ced is ready to get his feet wet at RT. He's not ready and gets benched. Understanding that their top prospect may not be ready for primetime they offer a 35 year old Whit a lucrative 1 year deal; unfortunately, LA was willing to employ him until he was 38. The Bengals could not wait that long to try and get return on their investments.

Will Ced and Jake work out? Who knows. But sometimes you have to crack a couple eggs to make an omelet.