Building the trenches

[SunsetBengal]

(09-25-2024, 10:10 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: You’re kidding yourself if you think a healthy BJ hill and Sheldon rankins make this a top 2 DL.  Between them and Hubbard, they represent 80% of the DL cap dollars for DL… again second highest in the NFL.

He didn't say that, you did.. Anyway, we all knew that the Bengals were crazy for allowing DJ Reader to walk without having a viable run stuffer to fill that spot on the roster. By the time the Bengals got around to doing anything about the interior DL, the NT supply had run out. They panicked and signed Rankins, whose not a NT, but built his name as a pass rushing 3T. Obviously nobody expected both Hill and Rankins to go down in the same game, that early in the season.

Since the Bengals were unable to solve their issues in free agency, they did the Bengal move and rolled the dice in the draft. They picked a fine pair of prospects in Jenkins and Jackson, but they're injured too and honestly shouldn't have been expected to produce much as rookies, anyway.

The Bengals business decisions blew this one, completely. They had an idea when Reader went down for the season that they likely weren't going to re-sign him. They slept on the position for most of free agency, they blew their chances to secure a plug and play guy who actually fit the need to fill.