DJ Reader is happy to be a Bengal

[Sled21]

(07-21-2020, 11:11 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: I never said we overpaid him. But I’m also not aware of a single other team offering to make him the highest paid NT in the league. Maybe there was, but I don’t recall any such reports.

I’ll just have to disagree with you guys that he “fell in love” with the team or whatever. I’m giving the FO credit on this one. They busted out the checkbook and got their guy. We’ve been begging for it forever, so I’m not sure why it’s such a bad thing. Now if we were the Chiefs or the Ravens and a guy said this kind of stuff I might believe him.

Can you name 1 line he would rather line up with that Atkins, Dunlap and Hubbard/Lawson?

[Nicomo Cosca]

(07-21-2020, 04:16 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Can you name 1 line he would rather line up with that Atkins, Dunlap and Hubbard/Lawson?

Are you asking if we’re the very best DL in the entire league? Because no, we’re not.

I know people love to shit on PFF around here, but this has us ranked 10th. I’d probably have us a few spots higher myself, but there’s definitely teams ahead of us (Pitt, WSH, SF for example) that I won’t argue with.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-defensive-line-rankings-all-32-units-entering-the-2020-nfl-season

[Nicomo Cosca]

Also, my apologies to Sunset for derailing his thread. I know it was meant to be a positive one.

I just didn’t think my comments about money landing us the big guy would be this controversial...

[impactplaya]

I recall the days when FAs like Shaun Rogers played this front office and laughed
All the way to Cleveland. I recall days when this team was signing over the hill
Stiffs like Tank Johnson and the organization hoping and praying a 7th RD pick from
Santa Clara A and M would be a,diamond in the rough at DT and provide some
Impact right away.
Reader is a,Bengal. He's a force. He's happy to be here. And he will add years to Geno.

[GreenCornBengal]

I think this is true for anyone leaving the Texans. Apparently O’Brien is running a clown show over there. It’s awesome to hear this from Reader, let’s hope he shows it on the field.

[SunsetBengal]

(07-21-2020, 09:05 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Also, my apologies to Sunset for derailing his thread. I know it was meant to be a positive one.

I just didn’t think my comments about money landing us the big guy would be this controversial...

No harm, my friend.  I've been a Bengal fan all my life, I too have been skeptical of many things over the years.  This time, it seems like they are for real in wanting to build a winning team.  Might take a year or two for it to come together, but they're definitely moving in the right direction.  (for a change)

[Nicomo Cosca]

(07-21-2020, 10:22 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: I think this is true for anyone leaving the Texans. Apparently O’Brien is running a clown show over there. It’s awesome to hear this from Reader, let’s hope he shows it on the field.

That’s a fair point. He’s hands down the worst GM in the league, imo.

[Sled21]

(07-21-2020, 09:01 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Are you asking if we’re the very best DL in the entire league? Because no, we’re not.

I know people love to shit on PFF around here, but this has us ranked 10th. I’d probably have us a few spots higher myself, but there’s definitely teams ahead of us (Pitt, WSH, SF for example) that I won’t argue with.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-defensive-line-rankings-all-32-units-entering-the-2020-nfl-season

Yes, that article is pretty much hogwash. They rank teams ahead of us that have 1 marquis player on the line, then mention some no names. When it comes to the Bengals, they say Atkins is on the decline and Lawson regressed, with no mention that Atkins was overused and Lawson was getting back from knee surgery. Oh, and Dunlap had a career year is stuck in there. When you add Reader next to Geno and have Dunlap on one side  and Hubbard/Lawson on the other, I'll take that line all day long. Teams are going to have to pick their poison, double Geno or double DJ. Either way, their pocket is collapsing and the QB will be there for the ends....

[GreenCornBengal]

(07-22-2020, 09:47 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Yes, that article is pretty much hogwash. They rank teams ahead of us that have 1 marquis player on the line, then mention some no names. When it comes to the Bengals, they say Atkins is on the decline and Lawson regressed, with no mention that Atkins was overused and Lawson was getting back from knee surgery. Oh, and Dunlap had a career year is stuck in there. When you add Reader next to Geno and have Dunlap on one side  and Hubbard/Lawson on the other, I'll take that line all day long. Teams are going to have to pick their poison, double Geno or double DJ. Either way, their pocket is collapsing and the QB will be there for the ends....

Watch some footage of Dlines like the 49ers. We could be a lot better. There are some lines out there that play with a ferocity that’s our players simply don’t...

[Nicomo Cosca]

(07-22-2020, 09:47 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Yes, that article is pretty much hogwash. They rank teams ahead of us that have 1 marquis player on the line, then mention some no names. When it comes to the Bengals, they say Atkins is on the decline and Lawson regressed, with no mention that Atkins was overused and Lawson was getting back from knee surgery. Oh, and Dunlap had a career year is stuck in there. When you add Reader next to Geno and have Dunlap on one side  and Hubbard/Lawson on the other, I'll take that line all day long. Teams are going to have to pick their poison, double Geno or double DJ. Either way, their pocket is collapsing and the QB will be there for the ends....

No it’s not “hogwash” nothing they said was untrue. It was actually an extremely fair an accurate assessment. Top 10 is pretty damn good. Especially for a DL that didn’t have a single player with double digit sacks last season.

And you can’t discount putting a team with only “1 marquee player” high if it’s a player the caliber of Aaron Donald for example.

I understand being excited about our DL (I am too), but I’m not going to be an absolute homer and claim we have a better unit than every other team in the league. Especially a team like SF who just cane off a Super Bowl appearance aided largely by a dominant DL.

[Truck_1_0_1_]

(07-21-2020, 10:02 PM)impactplaya Wrote: I recall the days when FAs like Shaun Rogers played this front office and laughed
All the way to Cleveland. I recall days when this team was signing over the hill
Stiffs like Tank Johnson and the organization hoping and praying a 7th RD pick from
Santa Clara A and M would be a,diamond in the rough at DT and provide some
Impact right away.
Reader is a,Bengal. He's a force. He's happy to be here. And he will add years to Geno.

The first bold: Despite his PFF grade, Tank had an excellent 2009 (lots of space-eating and run stuffing) and his 2010 he fell off a cliff.
The second bold: That never happened, you must've dreamt it.

Since Marv, in the 7th round at Dline, we've drafted:

- Elton Patterson (2003, only had 1 year) and he went to UCF.
- Fanene (solid contributor for over 6 years) and he went to Utah.
- Clinton McDonald (an excellent player who was a starter on the Seahawks LOB dline when they won the Super Bowl. We were stacked so we traded him for a position of need) and he went to Memphis.

So 2 group of 5s (with both being among the better teams in the GO5) and 1 Power 5 (also a historically good team).

If we even go one round earlier to the 6th, we have:

- Matt Toeania (underrated player who's career was cut short; didn't play much here due to who was in front of him and started for good Bears teams) and he went to Oregon.

That's it; a grand total of 4 dlineman drafted in rounds 6 and 7, since 2003. And one of them didn't produce, while the others were solid rotation pieces who were able to carve out a niche in this league, you know, like most 6th and 7th rounders are supposed to?

I get knocking the drafting strategy for some things, but the Bengals DO NOT use low-end picks on random people from small/shitty programs, hoping they will become a starter. Complete fallacy.

[bengaloo]

I believe Reader meant what he said. Simply because if I were a NT and looked at the rest of our DL, plus all the secondary additions, I'd fall in love with this team too. Especially if it were holding the #1 pick, in a year where there is a rare elite QB available as the top pick.

This team is going places, imo. This is the biggest rebuild I've ever seen for the Bengals.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(07-22-2020, 10:02 AM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: Watch some footage of Dlines like the 49ers. We could be a lot better. There are some lines out there that play with a ferocity that’s our players simply don’t...

The 49ers D-line definitely stands out when watching them. I still think we have a top D-line though with Reader coming in 
and if Lawson and the players can stay healthy. Need to have a nice rotation going to keep our guys fresh and I think we 
could be right up there with the 49ers but yeah, tall order, these guys are the best right now IMO.

(07-22-2020, 05:57 PM)bengaloo Wrote: I believe Reader meant what he said. Simply because if I were a NT and looked at the rest of our DL, plus all the secondary additions, I'd fall in love with this team too. Especially if it were holding the #1 pick, in a year where there is a rare elite QB available as the top pick.

This team is going places, imo. This is the biggest rebuild I've ever seen for the Bengals.

Feel the same, first time I have ever seen this team go all out in FA for one side of the ball and then follow it up with a very
good Draft adding the best QB in college I have ever seen and a very talented, tall, sticky handed receiver in Higgins.

I think the Defense will make the biggest jump in a good way though with the adding of vets in FA.

[RASCAL]

(07-21-2020, 10:28 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: No harm, my friend.  I've been a Bengal fan all my life, I too have been skeptical of many things over the years.  This time, it seems like they are for real in wanting to build a winning team.  Might take a year or two for it to come together, but they're definitely moving in the right direction.  (for a change)

we ALL say that every year! I know, I'm one of them!!!