12-24-2023, 11:04 AM
(12-23-2023, 11:19 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: I think people underestimate losing Apple as well. He was not a #1 corner but he wasn't bad. He gave up some plays but he was better than a lot of what we see now from the Bengals corners. You can't just claim the defense should still be as good because you drafted guys to replace the starters you let go. We didn't go from one of the top scoring defenses to one of the worst because Lou suddenly became a bad coach. We are a worse defense because we don't have the same talent. Just because you use a 1st round draft pick on Dax Hill doesn't mean you have the same talent in the secondary as you did with Jessie Bates.
There will always be personnel loses from year to year. I think the simple answer is we didn't plan for the transition very well. Bates was predetermined to be let go with the drafting of Dax. But to let Apple and Bell go with him was terrible planning. We didn't want to let Dax play too much last year as a 1st rd rookie and now our plan is to have a 2nd rd guy and a 3rd rd guy start? Not a recipe for success. Your right should've kept Apple and really should've kept one or the other in Bell or Bates.
