06-16-2020, 05:57 PM
I know I'm stating the obvious here as far as team success goes. And obviously we're all rooting for all of these players to play well, free agent or not. But what I'm really trying to say here is that our recent change in approach needs to pay dividends. I'm especially pulling for these outside guys to produce.
Why? Well, it's probably pretty obvious to some of you but for those that may not have considered it, we need to see some rewards from our spending splurge to ensure that we remain proactive in free agency. If these guys don't live up to their contracts it may make us more reluctant in the future to invest in outside talent, which I think has somewhat happened before.
We've invested a somewhat decent amount if free agency before (not near as much as now though). It is my opinion that because none of these guys really paid off it caused the franchise to revert back to more bargain bin signings. The references to the Modell Model started occuring not too long after these signings.
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--- Antwan Odom (2008) - 5 years, 29.5 mil dollars.
Odom was easily the best of this bunch, but that's not saying much. He wasn't an awful signing, but he far from lived up the investment. He was released after only 3 seasons, and only played in 22 out of 48 games. Outside of a great game against Green Bay (5 sacks!) he only had 6 sacks over 3 seasons. When he was released we had to eat a good chunck of dead money.
--- Lavernous Coles (2009) - 4 years, 28 mil dollars
Coles had a pretty decent career up until joining the Bengals. He was far from an elite receiver, but he had produced. The problem? Fit? Age (32)? Take your pick. Regardless, he came nowhere close to living up to his contract. He was brought in to replace TJ, who had over 900 yards in 15 games the year prior. Coles produced a whopping 514 yards, and never looked the part. He was released after only one season, also resulting in more dead money.
--- Antonio Bryant (2010) - 4 years 28 mil dollars + incentives.
By far the absolute worst signing in franchise history, perhaps among the worst in NFL history. The guy never made it thorugh a single practice, and never actually suited up for a game. His injury was so bad he wasn't even IR'd, he was simply released prior to the season. We ended up paying him around 10 mil dollars for absolutely nothing. His signing also lead to the late desperation signing of TO and the circus and disaster of a season that followed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the Bengals may have been somewhat late to use free agency like some of their peers, people forget that free agency was still much different way back when. I think with these three consectutive years the Bengals were finally deciding to somewhat modernize their approach.
The problem is, these signings were pretty much all disasters, culminated by the addition of TO onto a team that appeared to have been relatively good on paper. When that team went 4-12, and after Mike just had to eat a ton of dead money with little results, I believe they took a step back from free agency. And when relative success followed from '11-'15, I think that just reinforced the idea that we didn't need to use free agency.
So, as the title states, I really think we need these guys to pay off. If these guys come out and make a really big difference then hopefully that will help build confidence in us going back to the well when we need to add pieces in the future.
PS I also have a similar theory about LB's. The gist is simple. The Bengals invested heavily in Pollack and Thurman, and then Rivers and Mauluga not too long after, which didn't exactly work out the best for the team. In the 10+ years that followed we've used no higher than a 3rd round pick at the position.
Why? Well, it's probably pretty obvious to some of you but for those that may not have considered it, we need to see some rewards from our spending splurge to ensure that we remain proactive in free agency. If these guys don't live up to their contracts it may make us more reluctant in the future to invest in outside talent, which I think has somewhat happened before.
We've invested a somewhat decent amount if free agency before (not near as much as now though). It is my opinion that because none of these guys really paid off it caused the franchise to revert back to more bargain bin signings. The references to the Modell Model started occuring not too long after these signings.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Antwan Odom (2008) - 5 years, 29.5 mil dollars.
Odom was easily the best of this bunch, but that's not saying much. He wasn't an awful signing, but he far from lived up the investment. He was released after only 3 seasons, and only played in 22 out of 48 games. Outside of a great game against Green Bay (5 sacks!) he only had 6 sacks over 3 seasons. When he was released we had to eat a good chunck of dead money.
--- Lavernous Coles (2009) - 4 years, 28 mil dollars
Coles had a pretty decent career up until joining the Bengals. He was far from an elite receiver, but he had produced. The problem? Fit? Age (32)? Take your pick. Regardless, he came nowhere close to living up to his contract. He was brought in to replace TJ, who had over 900 yards in 15 games the year prior. Coles produced a whopping 514 yards, and never looked the part. He was released after only one season, also resulting in more dead money.
--- Antonio Bryant (2010) - 4 years 28 mil dollars + incentives.
By far the absolute worst signing in franchise history, perhaps among the worst in NFL history. The guy never made it thorugh a single practice, and never actually suited up for a game. His injury was so bad he wasn't even IR'd, he was simply released prior to the season. We ended up paying him around 10 mil dollars for absolutely nothing. His signing also lead to the late desperation signing of TO and the circus and disaster of a season that followed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While the Bengals may have been somewhat late to use free agency like some of their peers, people forget that free agency was still much different way back when. I think with these three consectutive years the Bengals were finally deciding to somewhat modernize their approach.
The problem is, these signings were pretty much all disasters, culminated by the addition of TO onto a team that appeared to have been relatively good on paper. When that team went 4-12, and after Mike just had to eat a ton of dead money with little results, I believe they took a step back from free agency. And when relative success followed from '11-'15, I think that just reinforced the idea that we didn't need to use free agency.
So, as the title states, I really think we need these guys to pay off. If these guys come out and make a really big difference then hopefully that will help build confidence in us going back to the well when we need to add pieces in the future.
PS I also have a similar theory about LB's. The gist is simple. The Bengals invested heavily in Pollack and Thurman, and then Rivers and Mauluga not too long after, which didn't exactly work out the best for the team. In the 10+ years that followed we've used no higher than a 3rd round pick at the position.
