03-20-2017, 09:46 AM
(03-20-2017, 09:12 AM)kevin Wrote: OK, we lost some fan favorites. Peoples take that this team is giving up and in rebuilding mode, no, I don't see that at all. If that was the case they would not resign Kirkpatrick and Lafell or bring back Andre Smith or sign Minter. I also like that Minter is 26 as opposed to the ages of Harrison, Hawk and Dansby brought in way past their prime. So I see a lot of positives as we head into the draft next month. Plus we have picks from last few years in training mode ready to become veterans. Bodine, Dennard, Ced, Fisher, Jackson, McCarron, Boyd, Core are among the draft picks developing into veterans. It is a huge jump from college to NFL. With the players we have and the draft coming, the Bengals can score a lot but give up few points in 2017. Bengals already said if the LSU RB is there when they pick, they will make him a Bengal. Don't give up on a team with Dalton and all these pass catchers and Atkins and Dunlap on defense just yet.
I agree and while it stings to lose guys like Whit and Zeitler, fans had to of known that this was going to happen. Whit was 35 going on 36, I think the front office thought he was going to re-sign for the year, but when LA offered more than he was worth he took it. I'm not mad at him for that, but he did give the team a big FU. Zeitler has been solid since we drafted him, but he has had some injuries and not once has any list had him in the top 5 at the position and Cleveland just paid him the largest contract ever for a guard, sucks to see him go, but with extensions coming up for other players like Eifert, Burfict, Dunlap, and Atkins it was the choice that had to be made.
Re-signing Dre was a smart move, he's young and getting better, plus he holds in check A. Brown which is hard to do. Lafell deserved a new contract after playing well. Smith was a good insurance signing and brings solid depth and Minter was a nice pickup, just entering his prime, he keeps getting better.
The roster has several guys who are going to be vying for snaps this year so who knows we might not see a big drop off. Westerman could turn out to be a pretty solid guard just like Zeitler, Fisher should improve which will mean an improvement at RT over last season and Ced knows he played bad, but maybe moving back to his natural position along with having a full year of snaps after that injury will help. Will he be as good as Whit, not this year, but it's not to say that he can't be in 2 or 3 years.
When I look at the team, we are getting a bunch of young guys back like WJ3, Billings, and Hardison, this should help the defense and look for Dennard to hopefully be fully healthy which would mean we have a really young talented secondary. Last year our struggles on offense were well documented, but we have to keep in mind that we lost our probowl TE for the first half of the season, we lost our allpro WR for the second half of the season along with our shifty rb. On top of this we had a new OC, 3 rookie WR's, a new FA WR, a new RT and our same shitty C. With a few good draft picks we could easily be in playoff contention again. I think we are going to start seeing the youth movement play into effect.
