How much has this team really improved this off-season?

[Whatever]

(07-17-2019, 09:47 PM)BengalChris Wrote: When I look at the roster overall I find it hard to locate any position that has been improved much. Here's the project starters.

QB Dalton - no change
RB Mixon - no change
LT Glenn - no change
LG Jerry - change from Boling, but is he any better really? Or is it going to be Westerman stepping in?
C Price - no change, but he's coming in healthy and has a year under his belt. I expect improvement.
RG Miller - upgrade over false start guy (whatever his name was)
RT Hart - no change where an upgrade was very warranted
TE Eifert - coming in healthy, as usual - How long will he last? Uzomah ended up starting last season and may very well be the guy this year, so no change here either.
WR1 AJ Green - no change
WR2 Boyd - no change
WR3 ???? - any consistency would be an upgrade, but did we acquire that consistency? Will anyone show up as a consistent WR here or do we just move Eifert out to WR as his starting role and start Uzomah at TE? Personally, I believe Eifert moved outside as a WR and Uzomah as starting TE puts our best hands on the field and creates the best kind of mis-matches.

Has the offense been upgraded? Or are we counting on people not being injured in 2019 as our upgrade?


Projected defensive starters:

LDR Dunlap - no change
DT Atkins - no change
NT Billings - no change
DE Hubbard - an upgrade over MJ, but was here last season.
DL rotation - several guys are returning from injuries and that depth should improve the DL's performance overall.
LB Vigil - no change
LB Brown - no change. Are we counting on him being healthy as the upgrade over last season's tackling void?
LB Pratt - Hopefully he'll be an upgrade over how Burfict played last season.
CB Willie Jackson - no change
CB Kirkpatrick - no change
CB Dennard - no change, Webb isn't better than Dennard but he could help out if a starting corner misses a game or two.
FS Bates - no change
SS Williams - no change
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Again, I have to ask, are we counting people not being injured in 2019 as our upgrade?

It's really impossible to say where we upgraded because we don't know how guys will fit in the new offense and the new defense.

If we're talking on paper, RB is probably better.  I mean, both Williams and Anderson can't be worse than Whalton.  TE is likely better and I don't see Sample sitting behind Uzi for long.  RG is definitely better with Miller.  From what's been said, LG is Westerman's job to lose and he was arguably our best OL last year.  On defense, CB is stronger and deeper with Webb.  MJ is gone, so our DE rotation will likely improve.  But again, that's all on paper and means absolutely nothing on the field.

Hoping the injured guys come back healthy is part of it, but the coaching changes is also a big part.  You also can't forget that the Bengals were the youngest team in the league last year, and guys are going to get better through experience, time in an NFL weight room, natural development, etc.