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

[*ochocincos*]

(01-17-2018, 01:12 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I don't know if the Bengals are capable of turning over that many roster spots, but the Jags sure as heck did.  From the end of 2016, to the start of 2017 season, they signed a total of 12 FAs, they cut 5 players from their 2016 roster prior to the draft.  Not to mention the draft, UDFAs, etc.

It can be done.  All that is needed is a plan, and a motivation to win.

Fair enough, it CAN, but it's not realistic to replace that many on one roster, especially one that ended up 7-9, not a 3-13 team.
A 7-9 team needs fewer players replaced compared to a 3-13 team.
Plus, the Jags had $75 mill in cap space and used that to sign Campbell, Bouye, and Barry Church. Bouye has a contract averaging $13.5 mill, Campbell's averages $15 mill, and Church's averages $6.5 mill. Collectively, that's $35 mill per year average.
Three impactful starters for $35 mill.

They drafted the following starters:
Fournette, Robinson (who played poor actually)
Westbrook, Smoot, and Myrick played specific roles with limited snaps but not starters.

They traded for Dareus mid-season because they had cap space left to absorb his contract. Dareus counts $10+ mill a year for the next four seasons after this one but no dead cap after 2018.

Ultimately, the Jags were able to have such a good turnaround because their team didn't really suffer many critical injuries aside from Allen Robinson. Therefore, they didn't have to rely on backup players as much and they had very good starters.

The Bengals were in a spot where backup-level players were starters, and therefore they played poor. You can't expect a team to have 52 above-average-or-better players on the roster, especially with a salary cap system.
Demote the cheap poor starters back to backup where they belong and upgrade the starter spots through FA and the draft. That's much more feasible to actually happen and get the team where they need to be.