11-09-2017, 03:59 PM
(11-09-2017, 03:18 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: 1. I think the "crying poor" is referring to Geoff Hobson writing his (literally) annual article that always lists off some embellished reasons why the Bengals never have any money to go after mid-tier free agents. The best we can ever expect is guys like Law Firm and LaFell, and we only sign guys like that to replace a departed player. We never actually improve from one year to the next using free agency.
2. Sure that's the benefit. The obvious (and huge) downfall is having to stay loyal to "dead-weight" players like a Leon Hall, when that money could be used to improve a hole on the roster, or just sign a difference maker. So it hurts us in 2 ways. Staying loyal to players whose play isn't living up to their contracts, and not having more cap flexibility to aggressively pursue upgrades.
I'd also argue that the benefit isn't all that great. It essentially allows the Bengals to be lazy. Plenty of teams do it the right way and find creative ways to stay below the cap while also improving their roster at the right times. Timing is everything. As you mentioned, not many teams spend to cap every year, but they try to strike at the right times. When they feel they're close to contention. When we've been close to serious contention, we can't bring in more talent because we're hindered by how they do business.
As for the good players we've retained, sure, Dalton, Green, Atkins etc were probably lured by the loyalty, but guaranteed money probably would've worked too.
I had zero issue with letting Marvin Jones, Sanu, Whit or Zeitler walk. In fact, I've defended each (non?) move. What irks me is that we watched these guys walk and didn't use the money elsewhere. We offered a big contract to Marvin Jones? We offered big money to Whit? Ok...well where did that money go? Why didn't we sign a different (maybe cheaper) Tackle or Guard in free agency? There were plenty available.
As BenZoo pointed out, it's hard for fans not to be pissed when we're watching our offense set records for futility behind a train wreck o-line...while there's 18 million in unused cap space just sitting there. We gave up 41 sacks and ranked 23rd in YPC last year, watched our 2 best linemen walk, and responded by sitting on our hands? Paul Alexander wasn't fired. Our big move was to bring back a washed up Andre Smith?
Regardless of the Bengals theories on team building, there's no excuse for that. It looks awful.
Yes. And if you're planning on letting your 2 best lineman walk from a mediocre offensive line...you may not want to draft a fast, injury prone WR in Round 1, and a flashy RB in Round 2 that will average 2.9 ypc.
Take a Center in the 2nd Round and then hope that Mixon is there in Round 3. Without blocking, skill players struggle.
