'It’s time for the Bengals to alter their offseason mindset.'

[*SHRacerX*]

(01-16-2018, 03:52 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: That's sort of the quandry though. How are you going to know how much an upper tier, higher paid free agent may impact/improve your team if you never roll the dice to find out? 

I do think you have to be smart about it as well, taking into account how big the need is at the position, how well the player fits  your scheme, whether the player was productive over a period of time and not just a contract year, injury history and other factors.

Free agency is always a gamble to a certain extent, but after 27 years without a single playoff win, I think it's about time they took that gamble. 

I think the big decisions on the coaching staff is a gamble.  They haven't made such a house cleaning in a long time.  I wish Marv had gone with them, but regardless, it was a bit of a gamble to start over on the offensive line, and most of the defense.  

I think going after a big FA might be more a move of desperation then execution of improving the roster.  We saw massive improvements in the rushing attack and offensive line play the last two games when Redmond and Westerman were given (FINALLY!) an opportunity.  Why not keep Boling at LT and have Westerman be LG and Redmond be RG?  Then all they really need is a center and RT which could be filled with a combination of FA and the draft.

The horrid performance of the offensive line was probably 75% of this team's problems this past season.  If you improve the line, the run game improves, which improves the pass game, which improves time of possession, which improves the defense....blah, blah, blah.

The other major gap in ability is in the LB corps.  Depth was paper thin.  There should be one or even two FA acquisitions plus a draft pick to up the play of the middle of the defense.  
 
Most of Cincinnati realizes the importance of an offensive line.  If you want to improve the team, sign Ryan Jensen.  He is a massive upgrade, and he would hurt a division rival by taking him.  Dalton has not had protection right up the middle since he has been a Bengal.  I think most of the rest could be addressed with the draft.  That would be big enough splash for me, and I think it would provide flexibility in the draft as well.