***Official Bengals Free Agency Thread***

[JerseyDD09]

(03-29-2021, 11:04 AM)3wt Wrote: Been trying to stay balanced in my thinking, but I'll go ahead and vent.

I still believe that Lawson was the better DE and we should have just signed him.

We blew the opportunity to sign a solid guard with no injury/ performance issues when we let Zeitler sign with someone else.   While I'm sensitive to the fact that he may just not have wanted to come here, and wanted to play for a more competitive team.   But he and Reiff were the sweet spot we needed to insure a solid improvement to the OL

I'm also sensitive that there are some really good interior O linemen in the upcoming draft.   But I have no confidence we will draft them, preferring to sign the best tackle available in the 2nd round.  While that IS a priority, I believe there is more tackle depth in the 3rd/ 4th round and the biggest concern on the O line is the interior at this point.

I think it is too late to find a really reliable upgrade at guard in free agency at this point.  They keep dicking around signing mediocre players.   In my opinion either sign a really good end (Kerrigan - whose ship has sailed) or resign one of your upcoming challenging players (I'm thinking Bates).

We'll see.   But my gut tells me two things:

1. We missed the boat in getting our O-line and D-line upgraded.  And
2. We should have moved on from Anarumo.  The smell out there says that the players don't like the guy and are all wishing he was gone.
   

I realize I am spouting from a pretty ignorant position.

But I had the same gut about weapons of mass destruction in the Bush administration.

I'll have to disagree with you on some opinions. First, Zeitler didn't want to come here. I do agree that they both would've been nice upgrades on the right side. But, you can't force a player to come back to Cincy if he has a bad taste about it. 
2nd, I believe the opposite, with Hendrickson being better as the numbers play it out with no injury history like Lawson ( and I like Lawson). But, 13.5 sacks is 13.5 sacks, something only Dunlap has gotten to for the Bengals. 
3rd, there aren't any IOL out there to get as upgrades, and only a few throughout the process. No one is jumping at the bit to sign Trai Turner these days. 
Lastly, there were several players who have signed and even came in for recruiting visits solely because of Anarumo and playing for him in the past. So, I don't know where your information is coming from? Maybe you can shed some evidence of the specific players not liking him?