Kwon Alaxander - A case study on why the Bengals are still inept

[WeezyBengal]

New coach, new staff, same old ownership. Just when you think the Bengals are somehow progressing as a franchise, stuff like this continues to come out. Below is a quote from Tyler Dragon, Bengals beat guy. Kwon Alaxander did have a good game, I saw it as well. The scary part is the excerpt from a Hobson article from March of this year. The Bengals are never going to get it or change.




I'm watching game film of the 41-17 blowout and LB Kwon Alexander keeps jumping out on my screen for the 49ers. He balled out on Sunday." - Tyler Dragon (Bengals beat guy)



An excerpt from a Hobson article from March of 2019:

Troy Blackburn does a lot of the free-agent deal making and he offered two perspectives this week. One for a deal that did happen for right tackle Bobby Hart and one for a deal that didn’t happen for Bucs linebacker Kwon Alexander. Alexander is one of those speed linebackers the Bengals desperately need and it didn’t get past the initial phone call even though new Bengals senior assistant Mark Duffner stood on the table for one of his position players in Tampa the last three years. Not at north of $14 million per year.

“He’s played one full year out of four,” Blackburn said. “Good athlete and we’ve got coaches connected with him that talk positively about him. Does that make him a $14- 15 million a year guy? Wow. We hear everything the fans say. We understand it, we respect it, we process it. But remember. We have a finite set of options we can pursue.”

https://www.bengals.com/news/bengals-blending-past-and-future-in-biggest-venture-ever

[Socal Bengals fan]

We need a speed coverage backer for the last 20 years. But keep drafting stiffs like Mauluga , Rivers , Vigil , etc then avoid paying guys like Mosley who had a pick 6 six and Kwon who was all over the field. Fml.

[fredtoast]

We have people whining that we never should have traded for Cordy Glenn because of his injury history, but Kwon had only played about half of the games in '17 and '18 (18 of 34) and the Niners gave him a lot more money for a lot longer (4 years $54 million) than Glenn is getting.

And if Kwon gets injured again and never earns his contract not one person here will talking about how smart the Bengals were not to give him that contract.

[jj22]

49er's and the Bengals are headed in opposite directions.

I'm not going to slam their FO decision making.

The Bengals FO is who we thought they were.

We are just figuring out it is Katie too, which makes the prospects of the future glim.

[WeezyBengal]

(09-16-2019, 03:37 PM)fredtoast Wrote: We have people whining that we never should have traded for Cordy Glenn because of his injury history, but Kwon had only played about half of the games in '17 and '18 (18 of 34) and the Niners gave him a lot more money for a lot longer (4 years $54 million) than Glenn is getting.

And if Kwon gets injured again and never earns his contract not one person here will talking about how smart the Bengals were not to give him that contract.

Not sure why people are complaining about the Cordy Glenn trade. That was a good trade IMO. 

I think the main point I get out of what was posted above is that the Bengals haven't and continue to not pay quality free agents. Their ownership and FO isn't willing to spend money and they are totally inept. 

[*ochocincos*]

(09-16-2019, 03:41 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Not sure why people are complaining about the Cordy Glenn trade. That was a good trade IMO. 

I think the main point I get out of what was posted above is that the Bengals haven't and continue to not pay quality free agents. Their ownership and FO isn't willing to spend money and they are totally inept. 

They will spend money. They just signed Boyd to a 4-year, $43 mill deal.
The key is they seem much more willing to give the big money to the guys in-house who are entering their prime rather than outside FAs or aging vets.
If the FO is going to follow the draft-develop-extend model, they need to do a lot better at the develop part. That's going to take time since the past few drafts overall have not developed many upper-tier players.

[fredtoast]

(09-16-2019, 03:41 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Not sure why people are complaining about the Cordy Glenn trade. That was a good trade IMO. 

I agree.  But you have been around these boards.  Don't act like you haven't seen the negative posts about how Glenn was damaged goods and the Bengals were stupid to trade for him.

Too many times the same people who bash the Bengals for signing a guy with injury history also bash them for NOT signing a guy with injury history i.e. Kwon Alexander.

[TJHoushmandzadeh's Shiny Shoes]

(09-16-2019, 03:58 PM)ochocincos Wrote: They will spend money. They just signed Boyd to a 4-year, $43 mill deal.
The key is they seem much more willing to give the big money to the guys in-house who are entering their prime rather than outside FAs or aging vets.
If the FO is going to follow the draft-develop-extend model, they need to do a lot better at the develop part. That's going to take time since the past few drafts overall have not developed many upper-tier players.

True. They also need to do better at the extend bit as well though. Boyd was only a pick because we failed to extend Marvin Jones.

The 4th round compensatory pick we got for Marvin Jones? Josh Malone who was waived the other week.

[WeezyBengal]

(09-16-2019, 04:09 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I agree.  But you have been around these boards.  Don't act like you haven't seen the negative posts about how Glenn was damaged goods and the Bengals were stupid to trade for him.

Too many times the same people who bash the Bengals for signing a guy with injury history also bash them for NOT signing a guy with injury history i.e. Kwon Alexander.

TBH I rarely check in during the off season. Just recently have I been coming daily. I havent seen the comments but I believe you when you say they have been made. 

[SunsetBengal]

And, Mosely is sitting on the bench tonight. How's that big contract working out for the Jets?

[THE PISTONS]

Had we signed a high price LB, we might not have been able to pay Gio Bernard like a Top 15 back and retain Bobby Hart.

Which would you rather have? Keep your eye on the prize.

[ElkValleyBengal]

(09-16-2019, 03:37 PM)fredtoast Wrote: We have people whining that we never should have traded for Cordy Glenn because of his injury history, but Kwon had only played about half of the games in '17 and '18 (18 of 34) and the Niners gave him a lot more money for a lot longer (4 years $54 million) than Glenn is getting.

And if Kwon gets injured again and never earns his contract not one person here will talking about how smart the Bengals were not to give him that contract.

This.  I have no problem at all with the Bengals FO balking at signing someone with that recent injury history to that sort of contract.  

What disappointed me is when the Bengals signed Eifert to yet another one year deal.  They had all the leverage, and I believe could hedged their bets by signing him to a multi-year deal laden with incentives.  

[Whatever]

(09-16-2019, 03:27 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: New coach, new staff, same old ownership. Just when you think the Bengals are somehow progressing as a franchise, stuff like this continues to come out. Below is a quote from Tyler Dragon, Bengals beat guy. Kwon Alaxander did have a good game, I saw it as well. The scary part is the excerpt from a Hobson article from March of this year. The Bengals are never going to get it or change.




I'm watching game film of the 41-17 blowout and LB Kwon Alexander keeps jumping out on my screen for the 49ers. He balled out on Sunday." - Tyler Dragon (Bengals beat guy)



An excerpt from a Hobson article from March of 2019:

Troy Blackburn does a lot of the free-agent deal making and he offered two perspectives this week. One for a deal that did happen for right tackle Bobby Hart and one for a deal that didn’t happen for Bucs linebacker Kwon Alexander. Alexander is one of those speed linebackers the Bengals desperately need and it didn’t get past the initial phone call even though new Bengals senior assistant Mark Duffner stood on the table for one of his position players in Tampa the last three years. Not at north of $14 million per year.

“He’s played one full year out of four,” Blackburn said. “Good athlete and we’ve got coaches connected with him that talk positively about him. Does that make him a $14- 15 million a year guy? Wow. We hear everything the fans say. We understand it, we respect it, we process it. But remember. We have a finite set of options we can pursue.”

https://www.bengals.com/news/bengals-blending-past-and-future-in-biggest-venture-ever

I liked Kwon as a potential LB target, however, $14 mil a year for him is nuts given his injury history.

Much like draft picks, you can't judge how good a FA signing after a couple of games, especially for that kind of money.

[THE PISTONS]

(09-16-2019, 09:37 PM)ElkValleyBengal Wrote: This.  I have no problem at all with the Bengals FO balking at signing someone with that recent injury history to that sort of contract.  

What disappointed me is when the Bengals signed Eifert to yet another one year deal.  They had all the leverage, and I believe could hedged their bets by signing him to a multi-year deal laden with incentives.  

So you're disappointed that they signed Eifert to a lucrative 1 year deal as opposed to a multiyear deal?

Honestly, he looks like a shell of his former self out there. He's constantly hurt. It's probably just time to move on...and you're probably right that they overpaid him.

As far as Glenn? They didn't give up a lot to get him. He's just not elite anymore after injuries. Hey they traded down and got Price though too. 

[THE PISTONS]

In all seriousness...Alexander graded out pretty poorly by PFF last year and he got injured. He does rack up a lot of tackles.

I don't know that what we're seeing is going to be how he plays all year.

I would have probably criticized the signing and if he was here, he likely wouldn't be playing like this.

[THE PISTONS]

(09-16-2019, 09:39 PM)Whatever Wrote: I liked Kwon as a potential LB target, however, $14 mil a year for him is nuts given his injury history.

Much like draft picks, you can't judge how good a FA signing after a couple of games, especially for that kind of money.

Honestly, most of the LB's we sign end up underperforming here. Lawson, Minter, Hawk, Brown, Dansby, etc. Yeah a lot are washed up, but the coaching here is suspect.

[SunsetBengal]

Ok, maybe a better example of a "case study" would be the NY Jets. They made some big moves. They signed La'veon Bell, CJ Mosely, even picked up Ryan Khalil to fill a hole at Center on the OL.

So, Mosely is on the bench injured, Bell is struggling to find any daylight, and as a team they are simply struggling to complete a pass or make a simple 1st down. Hell, the Bengals are achieving similar results at a fraction of the price.

I mean the Jets spent the money, they should be winning, right?

[Bengalitis]

(09-16-2019, 03:31 PM)Socal Bengals fan Wrote: We need a speed coverage backer for the last 20 years. But keep drafting stiffs like Mauluga , Rivers , Vigil ,  etc then avoid paying guys like Mosley who had a pick 6 six and Kwon who was all over the field.  Fml.

And couldn't even secure drafting Bush.

[*jason*]

(09-16-2019, 09:43 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: In all seriousness...Alexander graded out pretty poorly by PFF last year and he got injured. He does rack up a lot of tackles.

I don't know that what we're seeing is going to be how he plays all year.

I would have probably criticized the signing and if he was here, he likely wouldn't be playing like this.

I've watched bits of both Raiders games this year. Vontaze is looking pretty solid from what I've seen. Might not be 2013 Burfict, but he's not the guy he was last year either.

[THE PISTONS]

(09-16-2019, 10:20 PM)jason Wrote: I've watched bits of both Raiders games this year. Vontaze is looking pretty solid from what I've seen. Might not be 2013 Burfict, but he's not the guy he was last year either.

Yeah looked that way to me too in the parts I saw. They basically held him out most of camp and limit his practice.

Probably got in better shape looking forward to playing there.