Lou speaks on the state of the defense

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(12-29-2023, 08:47 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: So, are you saying that they should spend the money to keep Tee Higgins and shop free agency for a RT better than Williams?  Or should they just rely on high picks in the draft?  If they go the first option, you can bet that both of those deals will be in the top 10% of NFL contracts.

Where did I say that I wanted them to spend money to keep Tee? I have literally been on record that they are going to have to accept the need to move on from Tee for about two years now while people were deluding themselves that Burrow and the WRs were going to take a huge discount to stay together. I have always been vocal about this.

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They do need to add a solid veteran WR to add some stability and baseline competency in the WR room behind Chase. Think someone like Darnell Mooney (PFF projected $10.4m/yr) on the low end or Gabe Davis (PFF projected $13.5m/yr) on the high end. Then they can just use a mid round draft pick to add more WR depth.

They also need to add a solid veteran TE again to go with a draft pick. Hunter Henry is projected for $7.1m/yr. Then they can use a late pick on another TE since they're not relying on him to be a starter.

-RT probably needs to be addressed with their 1st round pick, as I don't believe it's a a good OL FA class.
-RB in the 2nd round.
-LG/C in the 3rd round to either replace Volson, or to prepare a future starting C because 2024 is Karras will be a FA in 2025 and he will be heading into his age 32 season.

Their first 3 picks have been defense each of the last two years. Time to focus on offense, but those two solid veteran additions don't put the Bengals entire hope on 5-6 rookies in one year. Sure would help a lot more if the OL FA class was better this year.