***NFL Free Agency News & Signings Thread***

[Joelist]

(03-14-2024, 01:13 PM)007BengalsFan Wrote: Reader graded out pretty high this past year and the defense still struggled stopping the run.  All the Bengals have done so far is swapped Rankins for Reader.  Do you think that makes the run defense any better?  At this point, the Bengals are worse now than they were last year on the defensive line.

Rankins is not a swap for Reader - a 3T is a different position than a NT. Rankins is to give us back the inside pass rush / penetration we have desperately lacked since losing Larry Ogunjobi. They will add at least one NT before they are done. Also our run defense issues were not about getting blown off the line they were about mental errors and alignment problems - both Stone and Bell speak directly to fixing the communication issues. Our defense last year got killed by explosive plays all stemming from mental mistakes. That is being addressed.