The Bengals did it right at OT

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(09-17-2017, 11:23 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Obviously a lot of talk about the oline and everyone can see it is a work in progress. However, the one constant comment I see that doesn't seem to be based on reality is that the Bengals didn't "address" the oline.

In 2015 we realized that Whit was getting a little long in the tooth and Andre Smith was on the final year of his contract. So we draft 2 OTs in each of the first 2 rounds of the draft. Despite the amateur experts in this forum both were considered high draft choices and great prospects. Both were All Americans their final year (Walter Camp/Football writers).

The plan was perfect. Give Ced a "red shirt" year to heal while we didn't need him and let Jake get experience all along the oline. Andre leaves in 2016 and Ced is ready to get his feet wet at RT. He's not ready and gets benched. Understanding that their top prospect may not be ready for primetime they offer a 35 year old Whit a lucrative 1 year deal; unfortunately, LA was willing to employ him until he was 38. The Bengals could not wait that long to try and get return on their investments.

Will Ced and Jake work out? Who knows. But sometimes you have to crack a couple eggs to make an omelet.

There is no excuse for not re-signing Whit. He offered to play OG which would have allowed them to play Ogbuehi at LT and give them a viable insurance policy if he sucked at LT as much as he sucked at RT. Whit's deal is structured so that if he suddenly starts to suck the Rams can cut him with less than $6 million in dead money or $3 million for two seasons. His salary with bonus money during the first two years are less than what the Bengals offered him for one. If the Rams do cut him after this year the Rams will pay him his guaranteed money if $12.5 million. So basically, the Bengals didn't re-sign Whit because of a difference of $2.5 million in guaranteed money.

You can fail to plan or you can plan to fail, Mike Brown did both by gambling the season on what Ogbuehi had shown.

BTW, the Bengals are sitting on $12M in cap space.