What Grade Would you Give the Bengals Thus Far during the OFF-SEASON?

[Essex Johnson]

(03-24-2017, 09:38 PM)Circleville Guy Wrote: Should have tagged Whit for a year, easy management decision. 

Whit wanted a longer deal and i still would not have tagged him.. time to see if the young ones can improve and play

[Essex Johnson]

(03-24-2017, 09:51 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Why do we have to live with failed draft picks? We just need to recognize that they were bad picks, replace them and move on. Why let them fester in place and continue to let the team down? That just hurts the whole team.

There is no way you can judge our first two picks as failed picks.. actually Fisher got decent grades once they settled him at RT.. I do blame the organization for not just putting them both at LT and RT only.. also Cedric has played like one Preseason game in two years, sure he struggled bad last year but too young, too green, too early to say a failure

quick example.. look at Cousins first three years.. lik 18 TDs 19 Ints.. pretty sad stats.. now look at his last couple years... 

[Circleville Guy]

(03-24-2017, 09:53 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Whit wanted a longer deal and i still would not have tagged him.. time to see if the young ones can improve and play

With a tag, it didn't matter what Whit wanted. We will definitely see. Don't be surprised in the least if Dalton doesn't get a season or career ending injury though because what we've seen so far wasn't good at all.

[Housh]

(03-24-2017, 08:16 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: You statement about Smith.. can;t we say the same about Whit in three years ?  no way would i commit three years to Whit.. looking into the future there also

Whit was on our team and left. So his production is there and documented. I used that logic with Smith because he hasn't been with us in a while so we don't know what were getting. If he ends up putting a hold on that starting RT spot then my grade goes up to a D. But I only used that logic because we lost fairly sure production for nothing and got back a question mark

[Derrick]

(03-24-2017, 04:40 PM)Hoofhearted Wrote: As of right now, it's almost impossible to give them a passing grade, but I'm willing to see what the finished product looks like before I grade it.

This sounds a lot like "You have to pass it to see what's in it.", N. Pelosi

[BengalChris]

(03-24-2017, 09:58 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: There is no way you can judge our first two picks as failed picks.. actually Fisher got decent grades once they settled him at RT.. I do blame the organization for not just putting them both at LT and RT only.. also Cedric has played like one Preseason game in two years, sure he struggled bad last year but too young, too green, too early to say a failure

quick example.. look at Cousins first three years.. lik 18 TDs 19 Ints.. pretty sad stats.. now look at his last couple years... 

Fisher may turn out and I actually believe he'll end up playing the left side in the end. But Ogbuehi has yet to play even put up a D performance. Cousins' numbers are absolutely amazing compared Ogbuehi's.

But my point was that we don't need to let things fester and continue. There was no valid reason the team had to keep trotting Ogbuehi out there failed game after failed game last year other than coaching moronic-ness. His lack of preseason play is part of the grade he gets. So far he's been injured when he's suppose to be learning his position. Not good.

[*bengalfan74*]

F

We let our two best O linemen go. Maualuga and A. Jones are still on the team ! We let Burkhead go and signed Peerman ? We signed a RT that we didn't want two years ago and he can't stay healthy and on the field, whoopee. The one and only good thing was signing Minter and that no where near makes up for all the bad before.

This is just barely scratching the surface of the incompetence. And here's my main question:

If not now... when ? Dalton, AJ, Eifert, Geno, Carols, and Burfict aren't getting any younger ! And all Mike Clown is worried about is comp picks. When is it going to be about this season ? I'm sick to puking death of hearing about building for the future and comp picks for next season. All that BS is just code for MB lining his wallet.

[Joelist]

I'm sorry, the best grade I can give right now is a D+.

Losing Big Z and Whit when just by using the stupid tag we would have been able to keep one of them. Then there is losing Peko who, despite the opinions of some here, was still a solid two gap DT (watch as Denver uses Peko properly in a proper rotation and he becomes a key contributor). And Burkhead being let go when it should have been Hill getting cut. Minter by himself raised this from an F to a D+ because he FINALLY gives us a Mike who can play both run and pass.

[El guapo]

The Bengals choose to spend big dough on playmakers. Offensive lineman are not playmakers. If their line has some leaks, they will design their offense accordingly. I give them a C.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

[Joelist]

Alas you're right in that MIKE Brown has never truly understood that winning football teams are built from the lines out. PAUL Brown did understand that - hence the differing priorities.

[Ricky Spanish]

I'll give then a C. Losing our best two offensive lineman with an already bad offensive line and 40 million in cap space, there is no excuse.

They made up for it some keeping DreK, LaFell, signing Minter, and bringing back Smith but I really hope they solidify this O line in the early rounds of the draft or Dalton will be dead by week 4

[Essex Johnson]

(03-24-2017, 10:21 PM)Circleville Guy Wrote: With a tag, it didn't matter what Whit wanted. We will definitely see. Don't be surprised in the least if Dalton doesn't get a season or career ending injury though because what we've seen so far wasn't good at all.

I still would not have paid him 12 mil tag.. go with youth and see what happens for me. Dalton got hurt with Whit at LT also.. so you never know

[Murdock2420]

(03-25-2017, 12:25 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote: I still would not have paid him 12 mil tag.. go with youth and see what happens for me. Dalton got hurt with Whit at LT also.. so you never know

If you are talking about the injury leading into the playoffs, Dalton got hurt while trying to make a tackle on a guy who intercepted his pass. 

[Essex Johnson]

(03-25-2017, 12:43 AM)Murdock2420 Wrote: If you are talking about the injury leading into the playoffs, Dalton got hurt while trying to make a tackle on a guy who intercepted his pass. 

well guess Whit should have blocked him then.... point is.. our line was not that great last year Dalton made it through the year.. im not going to just assume he will get hurt now without Whit.. yes it is a bit task in front of the young tackles.. but we drafted them together .. time to pass the torch and see if they can play to the level the Bengals drafted them at and put them in the positions they should have left them in the beginning. The one area where Alexander has done well in is with Tackles.. so maybe he can continue to develop these two tackles

[*SHRacerX*]

It is difficult to grade them thus far as we don't know what the plan for the draft will be.

If they are going to stubbornly hold on to Ced as the only option at LT, then I will likely give them a C. If they slide in Rd 1, get the WR Ross or Davis, and then aggressively trade back in to the bottom of Rd 1 and get Cam Robinson to compete at LT (which he could easily become our RG of the future if Ced somehow beats him out) then I would give them an A. I sure didn't want to see Whit go that way, but matching the offer would have been ridiculous. He will be 37 next year, and his decline is unavoidable.

I completely understand and agree with letting Zeitler go. He is an average run blocker and above average pass blocker that just got $12 million per year. You don't pay slightly above average players that. You pay all-pro players that.

I'm very happy they resigned Dre, LaFell, Peerman, as well as the acquisitions of Smith and Minter. My only wish is that they could have held on to Sexy, perhaps at the expense of Lafell.

I will be the minority here, but if Smith pans out at RG (basically stay healhty) and they either get a solid performance out of Ced, or push him with Robinson and he takes the job, with a burner WR early, a versatile RB, and a pass-rushing RDE from the draft, I think this team will actually respond from the age-turnover of the roster and compete for a Championship...and not just for the AFC North.

They have the cornerstones at QB, WR, and TE on offense. They have a veteran defense with a few, new, speedy options plus likely additions at DE from the draft. They have the return of Billings and WJIII to boost the defense as well. I love the way this team is coming together.

Get Ross, Robinson, and Jordan Willis after two rounds and watch out...

Playmakers, get a couple more playmakers.

[*SHRacerX*]

(03-24-2017, 04:18 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote:  Is Mangold still out there?

I saw his Mom and Sister at Kroger yesterday (the one in Centerville).  Holly used to be on our swim team and her mom swam at Wright State, so I have known them for some time.  

They were checking out behind me and I told them that a lot of people really want Nick to come home to play for Cincinnati.  They both smiled and said "so would we".  

So who knows?  If nothing else, invite him to camp and if he looks better than Bodine...let Bodine be the backup C and G.  

Of course, we would have to release Adam Jones which makes it a double win.

[BonnieBengal]

F-

[masonbengals fan]

Losing Whit was the only real surprise for me. And that one will hurt. Minter's signing does improve their grade in my book. I'll give them a C- at this point. It would have been a ugly grade before that. Happy they brought Dre & Lafell back. Smith will help in a few games as long as they can rotate him & keep him half way healthy. Peerman will contribute on ST.

A good draft will go a long ways towards any success this year. They need to find at least one player that will contribute immediately.

I still want Jones off of the team.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(03-24-2017, 09:49 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I have to go F. First off, getting rid of Whit was bad bad bad. Getting rid of Zeitler was worse. He was the guy you drafted and did what you needed him to do. What could he have done better? This organization F'd that up? Letting Burkhead go was a definite F. This cat played ball better than most you've had in the organization. His heart beat the winning spirit. It pounded "play me, I will fight for it!" These 3 losses alone speak volumes on this teams philosophy of how to win in the NFL. When you let players go other teams cant wait to have, especially ones who leave a void, is basically dumb in an offensive sort of way. It's horsecrap this organization took every one of us as fools. There's no explanation for this type of BS! So, let's move on to the signings.

What have you done to make things better than what you already had but to increase the size of the wallet? This team friggin gives away awesome talent, tears us down and the gives us a glimmer of hope by signing guys who have a history? F this as well. I don't fall for it. Marvin sucks, Mike B sucks, Katie sucks, they all suck. I will do what I will have to do to hang in the trenches with this teams failures because Mike B will pass one day, Marvin will move on and Katie will do wtfe? Someday, we will have a true organization.

One day we will have an organization that takes winning seriously. One who gives a damn about you and me, you know, the people who actually spend money on this team. The people who go to games, buy the ridiculous $9 beers and pay $50 to park. The people who pay their cable bills to watch every Sunday because they cant make it to games because of whatever reason. Those who continue to face ridicule when wearing the colors to work and those who actually get tattoo's of the Bengals "B" on their bodies (what was I thinking)?

Bless those fans who have went on to other teams, although I can't. Bless those players who have done their best here but were moved on, I will cheer for you. Yet as far as this organization? F, F, F, F it! Is that enough F's?

Damn Harley.

Gotta saying something to try and make you feel better...

Zeitler was not the best run blocking Guard, as a matter of fact he was terrible as a pull blocker. Way too slow to get
to the other side of the line and the RB would get caught in the backfield on these plays lots of times. If Andre can stay
healthy we should be much better running to the right side with Andre and Fisher.

Fisher should get much better not getting moved around all the time. We should draft a Center especially with Bodine
being in his last year here. If we draft one somewhat early like Elflein, Toth, Orlovsky etc. I bet the new Center beats
out Bodine this year at some point.

Og will improve, bound to happen, how much we don't know. But if he puts on some muscle he has the athleticism to
play LT well. Whitworth might fall off in LA too. We will see, but we don't know for sure how this would of turned out if
we tagged Whit which in my opinion is what we should of done.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(03-25-2017, 08:58 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I saw his Mom and Sister at Kroger yesterday (the one in Centerville).  Holly used to be on our swim team and her mom swam at Wright State, so I have known them for some time.  

They were checking out behind me and I told them that a lot of people really want Nick to come home to play for Cincinnati.  They both smiled and said "so would we".  

So who knows?  If nothing else, invite him to camp and if he looks better than Bodine...let Bodine be the backup C and G.  

Of course, we would have to release Adam Jones which makes it a double win.

Cool man, pretty neat knowing the fam.

Just makes too much sense, dude was cut, used to be great, area of need...