2023 OL Draft Prospects Group Assessments

[Whatever]

(03-22-2023, 07:15 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I look for the team to draft possibly 2 OL in the upcoming draft, as well as sign 2-4 priority UDFAs to the position group.  The team is in a bad spot, as far as having to go into free agency to comprise the bulk of their OL starters.  With a franchise QB about to get paid, as well as attempting to keep not one, but a pair of elite WRs on the team, position groups like OL need to be drafted and developed type of players.

Carman showed enough promise for me to still have hope for him, Volson exceeded my expectations.  The team couldn't have said it louder that Jonah Williams was a failure to launch at LT by going out and buying Brown Jr.  We have two more seasons with Karras and three with Cappa before it will be time to see what the new crop of draft and develop interior OL look like for the Bengals. Even having invested in La'el Collins, RT is still a tremendous question mark heading into this season.  Hopefully between Williams, Ford and Collins they can get it figured out for the next season.  However, I'm still putting my betting money on the Bengals drafting a Tackle in the first 3 rounds, one that they see as being the RT for the next 5-10 years.

Btw, you're doing a great job of keeping us all posted on the position group "as it stands" throughout the offseason process, nice job.  

I don't see the Bengals adding potentially 6 OL to the 15 they already have.  Going into TC with 20+ OL doesn't seem feasible.  

Signing depth guys like Ford and Scharping also seems to indicate that they aren't planning on drafting depth there.  Obviously, it depends on how their board falls, but looking at how FA has fallen, it looks like it would have to be a value pick.

Brown was not a planned signing.  Per Pollack, at the last minute, Duke told him, "Hey, take a look at this guy.". Pollack said adding a big ticket T wasn't even on his radar.  My guess is that they pounced because the FA T market is extremely soft and they had cap to burn after losing Bell.

Looking at the current roster, those draft picks start getting spoken for rather quickly when we need a TE1, plus a TE2 or 3, a S to compete with/supplant Scott, RB2, depth at outside CB, plus wiggle room for value drops.