Cameron Wake & Reshad Jones

[Bengalstripes9]

(03-25-2020, 12:22 PM)bwh Wrote: I like what the Bengals have done so far this offseason. However, I think that they have more needs than they can fill in one offseason. Its going to take a couple of years to rebuild.

Assuming they take Burrow at # 1, I would like the day 2 picks to go to LB and OT. Then go best player available through the rest of the draft.

The Bengals also need improvement and production from a lot of the players that they already have - Williams, Sample, Pratt , Price, Ross, Jordan, etc. 

I agree somewhat that this is a process to rebuild the team. The team is off to a great start in rebuilding the defense and offensive line. We did a good job in the draft last year on the oline, and added a good linebacker as well. The amount of veterans we have indicates to me that we can turn around rather quickly and turn into a playoff team as soon as this year. If we would have traded all of our veterans away I would have said this is a multiple year rebuild. But we didn't. We are letting go of the weak ones, and adding solid pieces through FA, and hopefully the draft. 

Fixing linebacker is a multiple year venture as whoever we draft will need to develop. I like the idea of having Bynes and a lot of promising young backers being groomed and mentored. We have a veteran secondary. We have a veteran defensive line. We can certainly jump to a middle of the road defense next year at worst IMO. We would obviously get better as our linebackers develop more.

On offense we have a ton of veterans in the skill positions. Our offensive line is rather young, and will take some time to gel as a unit. We will have a rookie QB as well. So I'm definitely expecting growing pains this year, but it is possible we can make the playoffs. After a year under it's belt, next year I think the Bengals could develop into a legit threat.

(03-25-2020, 01:32 PM)Whatever Wrote: I really can't see that [drafting 4 defense, 3 offense].  The Bengals have signed 4 new starters on defense (Reader, Waynes, Alexander, and Bynes) and only one on offense (XSF).  That would indicate that they are going to focus on offense in the draft.  Can't see any of the offensive coaches being happy if they dumped all that money and most of their picks into the defense and left them with scraps to try and build around a rookie QB.

That may be true, but we are transitioning into at 3-4 base defense. We need more depth at linebacker. At a bare minimum that means drafting an OLB/Edge, a MLB, and another late MLB because we have nobody there outside our two starters. I would also add in safety and defensive line as a potential need as we need more depth, and have aging veterans that will need to be replaced in a few years. All in all that is an absolute minimum of 3-4 defensive players.

On offense we obviously need another guard to develop. We have a lot of skilled WRs so whoever we draft will be battling to make the team. But Ross and AJ are on one year deals so getting another WR to develop and potentially replace Ross makes sense. I see us locking up Green for 3 years if we can. I can't see us picking more than one WR, and he likely doesn't get much playing time. Tight end I could see us drafting a guy like Moss in round 5 to compete. But we only keep 3 tight ends so we could be mostly set. One more body makes sense though. Another offensive tackle wouldn't hurt, either. I could see as many as 4 offensive players drafted, but not more. 

All in all I think the way this offseason is going, we draft pretty even offense to defense.