The Bodine Witch Hunt

[*ochocincos*]

I fully believe that Christian Westerman was brought in to be a quality backup guard with the potential to start if Zeitler leaves in FA next offseason. If he is to ever be groomed as a center, it will be in 2017 if Zeitler stays and Bodine struggles.

In Bodine's defense, it's expected that a mid-round draft pick will take a few years to develop into a good starter. If he was a first or second round pick, he would have more expectation to be a quality starter earlier.

The issue that many people have felt though for the past couple seasons is the Bengals should have been in "win-now" mode and brought in an upper-tier center that was ready from Day 1. That could have either been a good veteran (Alex Mack) or a Round 1-2 draft pick. Bodine could then have been given time to develop properly without the expectation that he should be dominant from the get-go.

2016 will be a critical year for Bodine. If he doesn't show a big leap by the end of this season, the Bengals might be tempted to pull the trigger on an early-round center. That would give Bodine one final year to prove himself while grooming a potential replacement that would take over in 2018.