Questions Regarding our 3rd LB Spot

[*ochocincos*]

(02-26-2024, 03:35 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: I would bring back ADG and Bailey though, I like ADG's upside and Bailey just always plays good.

One would have to think that if they are as good as they/we think they are, they want to go somewhere they'll get a lot more playing time.

2023 defensive snaps for the backup LBs:
ADG - 99 snaps (12%)
Bailey - 29 snaps (3%)
Bachie - 10 snaps (1%)

Pratt's sub-$7 mill APY contract lends itself to justify moving him back to a 2-down LB role, but was part of him willing to re-sign for that amount because he was told/guaranteed to get to be a 3-down LB as long as he's healthy?

An alternative is actually cutting/trading him, as he would free up a good amount of the cap and very little dead cap remaining.
Bengals could repurpose a portion of that money toward Bailey, ADG, and/or another LB to give them more playing time, maybe even moving away from the nickel defense and go back to more traditional base 4-3. Although I would see that being more situational only playing against a run-heavy team like the divisional opponents.

As long as Pratt is still in CIN and the Bengals continue to prefer running a 2-LB scheme, I don't see much reason a veteran would want to sign with CIN unless they didn't have any other option(s) on the table.