Thoughts from Lap on LB, O-line, free agency

[Essex Johnson]

(12-31-2019, 07:32 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: I think you have to plug Hart in at Guard if he can play that position, especially considering his contract value.

For all the hate on Hart (and rightfully so due to his poor play), I will say he is a high character guy. Every big play, I see Hart there celebrating much like Joe Mixon does after any big play from his team. Watch some highlights, he is always pumped and congratulating his teammates. He also has his guys back, if there is a scrum, you know Bobby Hart will be there defending his guys. For what little it's worth, I like his energy and character.. .he just needs to get better at his actual job lol.

 from what I could take in from watching the game and I caught his PFF (he was pretty much even with Jordan for 2nd on team thought still below average)  Hart improved from last year still needs to improve but at least a move forward not backward or the same.... He does give us some flexibility at G/T going into next year. I would add overall we played better last 5 games when Andy returned.. avg almost 370 yards a game, few penalties on our line and gave up just 8 sacks in those 5 games...

[*Awful Llama*]

(12-31-2019, 06:56 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: We aint dogs like up in cleveland... Tigers eat Steaks....   We want steak in Free agency.

This is about the best Mike will do:


Your comment about the dogs reminded me of Sunday's game.   had a Stains fan behind me to my left and another a few rows back to the right.  They did that damn barking anytime the Browns did anything halfway-decent. That went on throughout the game until near the end. When Bullock hit the FG to put us up by ten, I stood and let loose with my best, loudest bark.  Sounded just like 'em.  Damn, that felt good.

[*jason*]

(12-31-2019, 06:56 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: We aint dogs like up in cleveland... Tigers eat Steaks....   We want steak in Free agency.

Tigers eat deer... And people. And just about anything but bones I think.

[GreenCornBengal]

(12-31-2019, 08:16 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote:  from what I could take in from watching the game and I caught his PFF (he was pretty much even with Jordan for 2nd on team thought still below average)  Hart improved from last year still needs to improve but at least a move forward not backward or the same.... He does give us some flexibility at G/T going into next year.  I would add overall we played better last 5 games when Andy returned.. avg almost 370 yards a game, few penalties on our line and gave up just 8 sacks in those 5 games...

I feel the O-line improved in regards to penalties. Losing Redmond helped obviously, but I'm pretty sure Bobby cleaned up his act as well. I could be wrong, but that is how it seemed when watching this year.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(12-31-2019, 06:02 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: I would stick with Turner , the line played better down the stretch and 3 Ol coaches in 3 years not good for team..
Give him the 1st rounder on Off. With 3 to 4 starters at same position under same system is a good thing especially with a rookie QB most likely at the helm

Have to say I agree with Essex, significant improvement from the Line as the year went on which is good.

We have other coaches I want to move on from like Lou, Tem and the Secondary coaches.

Add new guys here and have a different coach calling plays and we should improve.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(12-31-2019, 06:56 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: We aint dogs like up in cleveland... Tigers eat Steaks....   We want steak in Free agency.

Yeah, we need some good stuff. Not this half ass bone crap.

Like that Lap said this though, as he is just talking like a fan like us.

[phil413]

(12-31-2019, 05:50 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: I agree with Lap that Johnson could be our RT next year. He has shown a lot of promise and seems to have a real upside.

If that's the case, then it's Jonah and Johnson at the tackles, with Hopkins locked in at C. So what direction do we go at guard?

Do we roll with Jordan and Miller again next year? Try moving Hart to G? Sign or draft someone else to come in and start?

The bone should be Joe Thuney.  He's a local guy that they'll need to pay top 10 guard money in case they have to play him at tackle.  

I'd rather solidify the offensive line then pretend that we are not tire kicking a very weak linebacker group.  

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(12-31-2019, 08:53 PM)jason Wrote: Tigers eat deer... And people. And just about anything but bones I think.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(12-31-2019, 06:44 PM)Hammerstripes Wrote: We only need 1 linebacker.  We only use 2 most of the time.

They still need 2 starters and 2 backups.

I think that he is saying that there are 4 positions open but only semi-occupied at the moment. Just because Pratt and Vigil look to be the best of the Bengals LB corp doesn't mean that they are good enough.

They need to find people to cover the RBs out of the backfield and they need to find someone that can cover a freakin' TE.

[hotweales]

(12-31-2019, 05:13 PM)Au165 Wrote: LB is a weak position this year in Free Agency unfortunately as of now, however maybe a surprise cut or two comes up. A guy like Joe Schobert or Corey Littleton may be the best available options.

Shaq Thompson is the perfect fit. College safety with ability to cover smaller players out of backfield. He is also a pretty good tackler.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(12-31-2019, 06:52 PM)wildcatnku24 Wrote: Jordan at LG and Price at RG.   Start Price at RG in training camp, let him process this offseason not being Center (which he was better at G at tOSU anyways) and I think it'll be just fine.  This year we simply kept losing people and putting people everywhere.  

I believe I've also read that Price wasn't healthy this year, so that may be why they just sat him.  

Price is not a starting caliber olinemen in the NFL. He’s just not. I’ve seen enough of that experiment. Guy is a backup at best. Jury is still out on Jordan but he’s pretty terrible as well tbh.

Miller gives us a way better chance. Need at least one more starter though.

[mikey6866]

(12-31-2019, 11:23 PM)hotweales Wrote: Shaq Thompson is the perfect fit. College safety with ability to cover smaller players out of backfield. He is also a pretty good tackler.

Huh? The panthers resigned this dude like 3 weeks ago.

[Joelist]

For LB draft Kenneth Murray in the 2nd. Put him in the middle between Pratt and Vigil and end the stupid 2 LB experiment. Also if possible take Antonio Gandy-Golden or Laviska Shenault Jr. at WR - both showed ability to separate, good ball skills and both are size mismatches. In terms of OL they might be able to get Trey Adams.

[samhain]

We need linebackers badly. Vigil and Pratt looked better. Pratt is likely to have a higher ceiling based on age alone. Vigil is another story. Decent may be his ceiling. Either way, two isn't enough.

We know all too well how bad this defense has been this year. We also know that there were bright spots like the tackles, Phillips, IMO Dennard when healthy, Dunlap, and, yes, Pratt.

The fact the organization has to consider when building the roster is that the division has changed. The balance of power has shifted from Pittsburgh, with Ben being a future HOF quarterback, to Baltimore. As long as he's heathy, Lamar Jackson is going to be one of is not the best player in the league. Ben's time is short and his team has questions when it comes to weapons. He's due to hit the same wall that Brady is now. Jackson is still a baby.

The Bengals will have to deal with him for a long time. The defense will need to be built with that in mind. Defensive linemen aren't going to run him down most of the time. Plodding linebackers like the Preston Browns of the world will get eaten alive. This needs to be the offseason that they fully embrace the concept of drafting/acquiring linebackers that can run, cover, and effectively deal with misdirection.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(01-01-2020, 03:04 AM)samhain Wrote: We need linebackers badly. Vigil and Pratt looked better. Pratt is likely to have a higher ceiling based on age alone. Vigil is another story. Decent may be his ceiling. Either way, two isn't enough.

We know all too well how bad this defense has been this year. We also know that there were bright spots like the tackles, Phillips, IMO Dennard when healthy, Dunlap, and, yes, Pratt.

The fact the organization has to consider when building the roster is that the division has changed. The balance of power has shifted from Pittsburgh, with Ben being a future HOF quarterback, to Baltimore. As long as he's heathy, Lamar Jackson is going to be one of is not the best player in the league. Ben's time is short and his team has questions when it comes to weapons. He's due to hit the same wall that Brady is now. Jackson is still a baby.

The Bengals will have to deal with him for a long time. The defense will need to be built with that in mind. Defensive linemen aren't going to run him down most of the time. Plodding linebackers like the Preston Browns of the world will get eaten alive. This needs to be the offseason that they fully embrace the concept of drafting/acquiring linebackers that can run, cover, and effectively deal with misdirection.

You mean Hardy Nickerson JR isn’t going to be our secret weapon against Lamar??

[samhain]

(01-01-2020, 03:12 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: You mean Hardy Nickerson JR isn’t going to be our secret weapon against Lamar??

That dude is a cockroach.  No matter what, he seems to find his way out there at some point.  

[bengaloo]

Lou was hamstrung by the lack of talent. I have been pissed about the LB situation for years. Marvin completely destroyed our LB core by being an egotistical ignoramous and taking project picks all the time and never actually trying to draft some real LBs,. The best Mervin could do was a troubled player that no one else wanted. Burfict. Marvin never actually developed any talent at LB. He just kept drafting dudes like Caleb Miller and Malik Jefferson. He brought in Preston Brown. Its like he fancied himself as some kind of LB whisperer or something. Im so glad he's gone. Our new coaches come in way late and still figure out how to draft a good LB that looks like hes going to be a solid starting caliber LB.

[*pally*]

(12-31-2019, 08:53 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: I feel the O-line improved in regards to penalties. Losing Redmond helped obviously, but I'm pretty sure Bobby cleaned up his act as well. I could be wrong, but that is how it seemed when watching this year.

Bobby was 50th in the league with 7 penalties. 4 of those were false starts. Last year he had 12 penalties of which 9 were false starts.
In 2018 Hart was 3rd (a spot now occupied by Whitworth)in the league compounded by Redmond’s 8th place finish.

Hart was the only Bengal in the top 100 so yeah the drop penalties was huge.

[*jason*]

(12-31-2019, 10:05 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote:

I remember watching a show years ago about Siberian tigers. They were trying to tranquilize one of them with darts from up in a helicopter. The tiger was lunging at the helicopter in the air. They're some bad MFers. It's unfortunate they're represented by the Bengals in the NFL.

[Sled21]

The oline and the defense as a whole made great strides from the 1st game of the season through the last. I'd keep both Turner and Lou at least another year.