Can someone explain to me what guys specifically we could’ve signed with Tee’s money

[Housh]

(03-18-2025, 06:41 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Uhh....this defense was never getting to Top 5 regardless of who was signed.

But a guy I think most had pegged as a target was someone like Milton Williams.
A guy who could help boost the pass rush and cost about the same or less than Higgins.
MW signed a 4-year, $104 mill deal ($26 mill APY).

Higgins signed a 4-year, $115 mill deal ($28.75 mill APY)

At this point, Bengals will need to draft DL to boost that unit, especially pass rush.
If they didn't sign Higgins to a multi-year deal, they likely would have drafted a guy early to replace.

It's pretty safe to assume that any WR drafted will have SOME dropoff to offensive production compared to if Higgins was on the team.
It may be the same or similar situation if Bengals signed a vet pass rushing IDL like Milton Williams vs drafting a guy.

So the question is...
What will get the team more wins?
Higgins + Day 1/2 pass rushing DT
Milton Williams + Day 1/2 WR

You could also have taken the costs of BJ Hill+Ossai ($18 mill APY total) and it would have come out to a bit above what Chase Young signed for ($17 mill APY).

Then, the Bengals would have had a starting DL of Hendrickson, TJ Slaton, Milton Williams, Chase Young.
That would have arguably solidified the starting DL the next year, possibly longer.
DT would have been solidified for sure with Williams, Hill, Jenkins, and Jackson with a Day 3 draft pick to be DT5.
Bengals could have taken a DE, WR, and OG in the first 3 rounds to cover Higgins replacement, future heir to Hendrickson (if he walks), and RG starter.

Key point you said….

It’s not like the defense was gonna magically be top 5 no matter what we did.


As you said if we signed Young and Williams we likely aren’t signing BJ Hill, Ossai and Sample so we’d hVe a good d line on paper but it would have no flexibility.


I just don’t see why we would sacrifice what we know is a top offense to MAYBE get a defense that’s ranked 20 instead of 30.


There was no set of moves that would’ve made us a top 15 defense