03-11-2018, 01:00 AM
I was thinking about the Bengals philosophy towards free agency. The Bengals usually honor contracts till the end because they think it shows other players their loyal and the thought is their own free agents will be more likely to resign back with the Bengals and do a somewhat team friendly deal. I think it has worked for them on some guys like Dalton who has a team friendly deal for a QB. But it is also a strategy that can hurt them. If you keep under performing vets like lets say Lafell and Johnson this year it could prevent you from signing an impactful free agent but in theory it while show guys like Geno or whoever the next big in house free is that your loyal ? The other issue is when other teams are willing to over pay it kind of messes things up for them, like Zeitler and Whitworth last year. If Geno or Dunlap have big years this season and don't sign before the season starts I could see some teams throwing tons of money at them, money i'm not sure the Bengals will be willing to pay. Even if Denard has a good year , teams are always desperate for CB's and will probably overpay. The problem with the last few years is the Bengals have not signed any good free agents, have let a lot of their own good free agents go and missed big on the draft which is a recipe for disaster.
