Grade the current (last 5 years) FO

[Soonerpeace]

(Yesterday, 04:23 PM)ochocincos Wrote: And over the past two years, Bengals are tied for 15th, right middle of the pack.
The Bengals have a downward trajectory since their 2021 Super Bowl run.
The worry by some (most?) fans is are the Bengals trending downward just because of injuries, or is it because they have continually lost key guys in FA and haven't done a good job backfilling them across the past couple seasons?

It's no secret this past offseason has been "unexciting," to be nice.
Their big FA additions were a run-stuffing NT (Slaton) and an IOL who hadn't been a planned Day 1 starter at OG since 2020 (Patrick).
Their early draft picks were a highly boom-or-bust DE (Stewart) and 2-down LB (Knight).
Their biggest offseason moves have been trying to keep their own talent, which doesn't make the team better, just helps keep it closer to the same as it was.

The Bengals may prove people wrong and these additions may really elevate them back into a (deep) playoff run, but until we see them perform on the field, it's ok to be unexcited.

That’s just a tad too negative. I can’t refute much lol. The Bengals are trending downward because the defense sucked due to poor drafting and FA signings. I don’t know how much was Lou’s fault. Staton looks to be a good addition. It’s evident they are focusing on stopping the run. Knight had a great combine and had some great games in college vs OU & Bama.Hes good at TFL & causing fumbles. We weren’t keeping Pratt. He pooped in somebody’s cheerios. We had to get a replacement. At some point they have to build a payroll that has players on rookie deals. Stewart may not have had many sacks in college but a ton of disruptions. He too played good in important SEC games. When the draft came re-signing Trey looked like a long shot. Fairchild and Patrick are very good at pass blocking. In Patrick’s last 1592 pass block snaps only 4 sacks. Fairchild gave up 1 sack at UGA in 2 seasons against great competition. I also think our OL depth exceedingly better. I think Chase Brown, Gesicki, and Isovias reach a higher level. Burton looks locked in finally. 

The defense is a worry. I’m hearing they are happy with the all the drafted players. No it doesn’t look like a SB roster but ‘21 wasn’t either. I guess we will see but I can see some of the frustration by posters.