04-27-2024, 01:19 PM
(04-27-2024, 01:12 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Is it really fair to call the pick a reach, when it is at a position where supply is evaporating fast? I mean by the time DJ Reader had signed with Detroit, the free agent class of NTs was essentially dried up. The one guy who was available and looked viable from a football standpoint was brought into the building and determined not to be a good personality fit with the team.
With T'Vondre Sweat and Maason Smith going as early as they did, it set off some panic buttons for teams that came into the draft intending to walk away with a potential starter in the middle. I don't blame the Bengals for double dipping at the position, as they came into the draft with only two viable interior DL signed to the team, and one of them is heading into the final year of his contract.
People who dismiss the McKinnley Jackson as merely a "reach" are being very short sighted, particularly from a football standpoint. After Reader went down with another severe injury, this team would have been lucky to stop a HS team from running the ball on them. Kudos to the Bengals staff for deciding that was unacceptable and doing the best that they could to remedy the situation.
It's just such a positional crapshoot. Finding NTs is tough. How many elite ones can you actually think of in the league over the last decade?
By sheer numbers, a tiny percentage of dudes are going to be that massive while also being sufficiently athletic. Then they have to be able to handle other dudes with similar freakish traits (probably better) across from them on the OL. That's a rare combination.
If I had those rare traits, I'd be trying to play OL all day, every day. More money at the position and a similar dearth of talent relative to need.
I feel like NT is a position worth buying in FA, at a premium. It's not going to kill you cap-wise relative to other positions, and getting a sure thing in the draft is highly unlikely.
