How important is a TE

[Whatever]

(02-02-2024, 10:27 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: How important is a TE?  Remember all those games we lost this year where we said if we just had an elite TE we would have won this game?  Me neither.  I do remember hearing if we had a better offensive line, we could have won or if we had a better defensive line or secondary we could have won.  The Bengals should spend the resources in the areas that need improved that will actually matter most in wins and loses.  Signing 414 yard, 0 TD, Noah Fant to a 9 million dollar per year contract doesnt help much.  Signing 14 sack Justin Madubuike to a 22 million dollar per year contract does.  BJ Hill is the only above average DT we have on the roster right now and he is one the last year of his contract.  DT should be #1 priority followed by the RT position then maybe WR#2 or TE.

Many complained all year about the offense being too predictable.  Part of that was a bad TE group.  We had Sample, who can block, but isn't a good receiving threat.  We had Hudson, who was an ok receiving threat, but couldn't block.  We had Irv Smith Jr who could...well...I don't really know that he could do anything.  A good 2 way TE can create mismatches and keep the defense guessing.  

We're discussing adding a B tier FA to solidify the position group when we're talking about a guy like Fant.  I don't think anyone is talking about extreme measures like trading up for Bowers or trading #18 for George Kittle.