our weakest position group

[*wildcats forever*]

(09-03-2015, 01:39 PM)fredtoast Wrote: LB and C.

Some people would call the TEs "unproven", but I feel much better about them than our LBs and C.

We may lack depth at WR, but we are pretty good with a top 3 of Green, Jones, and Sanu.  Not talking just about potential with this group.  I think most people would be satisfied with a repeat of what they did in '13.

CB could also be called "unproven", but I feel way better about them than many other positions.  Hall is not as bad as some people claim.  He played a lot last year when we had a top three pas efficiency defense despite being last in sacks.  That doesn't happen if one of your major players really sucks.  Plus I liked what I saw from both Dennard and Kirkpatrick last year.  Dennard didn't play a lot, but he did have a big forced fumble.

So that basically leaves LB and C.  Teamwork and chemistry mean a lot to the O-line, so I don't see Bodine getting benched.  Surely he will play a little better than he did last year.  Hopefully that will be well enough for the O-line as a whole to be successful.

At LB I have no idea who should be starting where until Burfict gets back.  And is it possible that Burfict plays MLB when he returns?  There are a bunch of interesting prospects in our LB corps, but they also all have question marks.  Without Burfict they are weak

Direct hit on LB and C Fred. I wanted a much stronger player for center than what we got. Hopefully he shows improvement, but when compared with the ideal candidate it appears Bodine will likely keep coming up a little short of what I would like to see. It's been years since we had top talent at this position, long enough to make me wonder what the Hell the organization is thinking. We'll never get to the promised land with the middle of our offensive line getting pushed back into the QB, regardless of who that is.

With the returning LB's, we've seen them struggle enough over the years to keep me from feeling confident they'll get the job done in every game. And of course, the additions haven't had much opportunity to show anything beyond 'potential'. As a group, solid improvement is a must or we probably will be able to pin a couple of losses or so directly here. Probably one of the biggest coaching challenges we'll have imho.

TE group seems dependent on Eifert staying healthy and as effective as he's shown in preseason. The new guys, like the new LB's, show potential but we need to see how it plays out. Without Eifert, we might be kinda wobbly for a few games. At least our other offensive weapons can help overcome this potential weakness adequately.

Overall though, this is one of the better Bengals teams I've seen going into a season, with enough upside to surprise. If we can get just a little luck regarding limited injuries, and get really good player response to really good coaching, this could/should be a year all involved will be more than just satisfied with the results.