Bengals depth versus rest of the league

[Nizoj]

I agree that we have great depth. I see teams lose a player and the panic that creates and feel that we are in good shape if just about any single player goes down.

I think the 3 that would be toughest to lose would be Eifert, AJ and Geno in that order. Mostly because of the gaps in production we'd see between them and their backups.

[Luvnit2]

(09-23-2015, 09:55 AM)Nizoj Wrote: I agree that we have great depth. I see teams lose a player and the panic that creates and feel that we are in good shape if just about any single player goes down.

I think the 3 that would be toughest to lose would be Eifert, AJ and Geno in that order. Mostly because of the gaps in production we'd see between them and their backups.

Those 3 would be tough.

Whitt would be tough as well as he is one of the best OT's in the NFL right now.

The other is Dalton, I like McCarron's future, I just would be concerned if the future was the 2015 season.

[corpjet]

(09-22-2015, 01:22 PM)Luvnit2 Wrote: The Bengals continue to distance themselves against the rest of the NFL in my opinion with our depth.

I know fans want 1st and 2nd round picks to be impact players immediately, but I love the fact our young draft picks are able to learn at practice, make mistakes at practice versus having to start or be a major contributor in week one.

Our bench has NFL starters/contributors everywhere in my opinion.
1. Dennard
2. Jake Fisher
3. Cedric O. (injured, but likely ready by week #7)
4. Dawson
5. Lewis-Harris
6. Alford
7. Little
8. Hunt
9. Thompson
10. Shaw

Edit: I would also add AJ McCarron. I feel he could start for some teams this year if they had him in their training camp this year.

These are all players who could help a lot of teams. Injuries will happen for every team. Would you like to be the Bengals FO right now or the teams in cap hell who can't afford to replace injured players with proven vets simply because they don't have the cash. These same teams have watched their depth disappear the past few years due to poor cap management.

I think of teams like the Broncos and the Colts with major OL issues and we have 2 potential OT's who are projected backups in 2015 who may be better than their starting OT's right now. The Colts chose to take Dorsett(WR) in round one versus Fisher. It may work out and I loved Dorsett potential, but in taking him in round #1, they lost out on every projected immediate starting OT in last year's draft.

Some may dish on Little, but he is only 26 years old, extremely athletic and has the tools to be a true #1 receiver which could come into play if AJ is hurt at all in 2015 (I hope not of course).

My point is the Bengals FO may be the best in the NFL since the new CBA was signed in 2011. They draft extremely well, they kept their own and they are great at cap management. Everyone said the Bengals cap management would suffer once we had to give the big contracts to AJ and Andy. To date, it has not. I know we have a ton of unsigned players in 2016, but we also have a ton of money due to Katie being masterful with structuring contracts.

Thoughts?

Very nice post and from what we have seen from AJ McCarron this preseason he needs to be on this list.

The icing on the cake in this whole deal is getting Vontaze back!  

[Night's Watch]

Our depth and talent pool is very well setup. Based on salary caps we are in line to be successful, except winning hurts any laid out plan. We may look great now, but with success comes the salary issues, as we are seeing in Seattle and Baltimore a few years ago. This team is setup nicely because we are good but not good enough to win in the postseason yet, once we do that, the raises due and offers our players would receive in the market will cause a lot of talent to go elsewhere.