Are the Bengals better today than before free agency

[MileHighGrowler]

(03-23-2021, 02:47 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: On a scale from -5 to 5 (with -5 being a major downgrade, 5 being a major upgrade and 0 being a lateral move), this is how I would grade our free agents:

Riley Reiff vs Bobby Hart: +4
Chidobe Awuzie vs William Jackson III: -2
Mike Hilton vs Mackensie Alexander: +2
Larry Ogunjobi vs Geno Atkins: +2 (when compared to 2020 Atkins)
Trey Hendrickson vs Carl Lawson: -2

So, a total upgrade of +4 points over 5 replaced players. If we assume Atkins recovers in 2021, then maybe that one is a wash in that regard.

We lost Green and have not replaced him, but at 18m dollars, I would consider getting rid of him a net gain in 2020, as he cost exponentially more than he was producing.

We didn't get significantly better, but I am comfortable saying we got marginally better, with the massive upgrade being at RT.

Now, we still don't have a new guard signed, so if we don't re-sign Spain and then roll with Michael Jordan at LG, then that would be a -3 or -4, so we'd end up getting worse, but I think re-signing Spain is probably our worst case scenario at this point.

The problem I have is that when you do a 1:1 swap, even if the player is somewhat better, you've done nothing about the depth.  Injuries were a huge excuse/reason for failure last year, and not addressing depth is concerning to me, as it sets them up to be in potentially the same spot as last year.  

Also, don't forget that we've let other players go that were not replaced in FA.  Thereby meaning they'll be late pickups or will a replacement drafted.  I think it's fair to see the roster at the end of the day could be an improvement over last year's, but I don't see it head and shoulders better, and the issue of depth has not been addressed at all to this point.