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It has bothered me for some time now that the Bengals were not a good 3rd and 2 team on either side of the ball. Reader should help immensely in that department. Oh, and he generated 36 pressures last year so he's not incompatible with a 4-3 alignment. Watt spoke highly of him. I'm glad for the guy's sake that he got his deal and don't think that he was overpaid.
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We just got a huge upgrade with this signing.
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We got 2 guys who thrive at stopping the run and that was obviously a calculated decision by the staff. I will take it all day. Reader is the kind of guy you can build around at his age and with his demeanor. LB is obviously a big need, but so is DT/NT. Geno is getting old and despite Billings starting to play better, we still suck against the run bad and lack a middle clogger who can take on 2 blockers and crash the play consistantly. We dont lack that anymore! Besides that with Pratt looking better, LB isnt "as bad" as it has been heading into 2020 and we have plenty of offseason left to further address it via trade, draft, etc. I expect us to look at LB early in the draft probably 33. We have enough to trade up a bit if we have to to grab a guy like Murray.
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Our LB play will improve dramatically just from this one signing. And we're stocking up on CBs too. Anarumo acquiring the tools to field a good defense this year.