Tough Sledding for Al Golden

[CJD]

(02-16-2025, 02:10 PM)samhain Wrote: I hope that Al Golden got a lot of money to return to Cincinnati.  It's difficult to view the situation he's inheriting and not seeing inevitable disappointment.  Considering where he is and what he will get compared to Anarumo's early years, he'd better be ready to do some Copperfield level magic.

Lou inherited a horrific defense in year one.  His major FA acquisition was BW Webb, a player he'd coached in NY.  Remember him?  Wouldn't fault you if you didn't.  Year 2, however, was a different approach.  The team anticipated Burrow being their number 1 pick and having a cheap qb for a few years.  They loaded up on defense in FA in a manner that we've never seen in franchise history.  Big money for a NT in Reader.  Big money for Waynes, who never panned out.  Shelling out for Alexander at nickel corner.  Vonn Bell was the cherry on top of the class.  Then came Wilson in the draft.

Year 3 might have been even more of a re-load.  They snagged possibly the best pass rusher in team history in Trey on day 1, a day we used to regard as out of reach for the Bengals.  Then another slot corner in Hilton when Alexander didn't work out.  They signed Chido to hedge against Waynes not getting on the field.  Then Ogunjobi.  Then the trade for Hill, who became an incredibly reliable player.

The organization went above and beyond to support Lou's vision on defense.  At times, he had 7 of 11 starters on defense that arrived via FA counting Apple.  It's crazy that so many of them actually worked out.

Al won't get close to that.  The rookie qb contract years are long gone.  We'd better hope that this guy is as good at development as his reputation suggests, because there's unlikely to be a cavalry any time soon.  He may have a fully developed offense to bail him out, but there's a lot of work to be done and few resources to plug in.  

Lou's tenure was the Fisher-Price My First DC job treatment.  Golden's will be the Thoughts and Prayers era.  Guess it's a good thing he's spent some time hanging with touchdown Jesus.  He'll need all the help he can get.

You forgot what else the front office gave Lou in his time here: Intense levels of draft capital into the defense. From 2022 to 2024, The Bengals drafted defense in 8 of their 10 day 1 and day 2 picks. The only non-defense picks were Amarius Mims and (ugh) Jermaine Burton in 2024.

Of those 8 players, only 1 is arguably locked in as a quality starter on this defense, Dax Hill (and some may even say he's still an unknown). Cam and DJ have had their moments, but have also been maddeningly inconsistent, Zach Carter is already gone, Jordan Battle started the year on the bench before slowly taking snaps away from Bell, but has not yet proven that he should definitely hold a starter's spot yet, Murphy is...who even knows what he is. He had 0 sacks last year and the coaches never seemed to trust him to be a starter. And we're already talking about DT being our biggest need because we drafted Kris Jenkins and McKinnley Jackson in 2024, neither of whom actually showed proof that they could be a quality starter on this defense.

This is what ultimately got Lou fired. He was unable to develop premium talent that was given to him through the draft.

And, going into the 2025 draft, we are anticipating spending the vast majority of our draft capital on the defense once again.

The expectation is that Al Golden will have a say in who we draft for his defense and he will select players who will actually fit his scheme and earn starting roles on his defense.

It should not require major injections from the free agency when you're spending the entire front end of multiple drafts on infusing talent into the defense. Free agency should always be a complement to your drafting successes.

Draft, develop, re-sign and then fill in with free agency.

Incidentally, they better follow that same model when it comes to re-signing Higgins...