Yesterday, 10:35 AM
(12-16-2024, 05:52 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Disagree.
Hendrickson AND Hubbard are going into contract year in 2025.
Murphy could take one of those spots, the new draft pick could take the other spot, even if it's 2-3 years down the road and serve as a rotational guy prior.
Stone, even if kept, is entering a contract year in 2025. They may want to draft a new FS and ride the bench for a year then take over the year after like they did with Dax Hill and Jessie Bates.
For CB, CTB is entering contract year in 2025, possibly Hill too if they choose not to exercise his 5th year option this offseason.
I doubt they would end up keeping both of them on veteran contracts.
Hilton also is set to hit FA after this season, so there's a starting spot opening soon for someone.
Bengals, whether we agree or not, like to draft players a year early and give them a year to develop as a backup before being thrust into a starting role.
They've done this for many years now, so I'm not expecting much different other than possibly FS if they cut Stone.
Best Edge rusher I had available in the 2nd was Jack Sawyer. Sorry, I'm not passing on Deone Walker for Jack Sawyer.
Best secondary player available was Nick Emmanwori, who's more of a rover and not a true FS type. There were no CB's available I felt worth the pick. Besides which, they would still have Hill and Turner for outside CB's if CTB leaves after next year and you aren't spending a 2nd rounder on a slot nickel CB.
Beyond that, the issues with this defense all start up front. I took what I felt was the best pass rusher available. Unless we're talking elite, shut down CB or elite ball hawking Ed Reed S, I'm taking pass rush over secondary 10/10 for this defense. With a good pass rush, even Eli Apple's sad ass looked like a decent starter. It's a lot easier to cover up for problems in the secondary with a good pass rush than for a good secondary to cover up a bad DL.
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)