One injury away from possible disaster

[Essex Johnson]

Anyone else starting to become very concerned about our lack of depth at Offensive tackle? our backup tackles have a total of six starts plus a 4th round rookie who played one game last season in college add in the injury history of Williams we really need to make a move before opening day for a veteran or Burrow could be in real trouble if either Reiff/Williams go down.

[GreenCornBengal]

Or linebacker, or defensive end, or QB….

When you’re a bottom of the barrel team injuries can be devastating. We’ve lacked depth for years.

[Bengalstripes9]

I thought this was going to be about Burrow. The 17 game season starting this year doesn’t do anyone any favors in terms of the injury risk. Hopefully Burrow heals up fully and there’s no knee fatigue. Hopefully he leads some blow outs that allow him to rest in the 4th quarter as well! Late in games and overtime is when fatigue can kick in.

As far as the oline goes, I would think most teams have the same issue with depth. But we certainly are rebuilding and an injury can be costly. Hopefully we see some progress from the young players and the injuries up front are at a minimum. I don’t think there’s much available at this point to upgrade our backups. Maybe there’s a surprise cut we can pounce on. But otherwise I think we’ll be signing someone off the street.

I hope to see this team protect Burrow this year in terms of protecting him up front and with the run game. If he can sneak rest here and there that would be nice to see as well (blowouts please!).

[impactplaya]

Id like to.see the Bengals sign.a OT that has a resume
Of playing well at a high level.
Mitchell Schartz comes to.mind.
Taking a chance on expecting a young OT to
Come in and play at a high.level is less than 50%
You need a solid vet who can step in and play
Without having to think about he is supposed to
Do every 3rd snap.

[*Synric*]

Most teams are in trouble if a starting tackle goes down for season.

[*bfine32*]

Like most teams we're in trouble if one of our bookends goes down; but we've got options:

Rief can play LT

Jackson can play OT

Johnson is much better at OT than inside

Spain can play on the exterior

Isaiah Prince has a couple starts under his belt

The undersized rookie has talent.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(07-13-2021, 12:21 AM)Synric Wrote: Most teams are in trouble if a starting tackle goes down for season.

Yep. Look at KC in the Super Bowl last year. Granted, we might have cause to be a little more concerned than most with Jonah’s history, but teams don’t have a bunch of good OT’s sitting on the bench.

Fred Johnson has looked halfway decent in his time at OT (at least enough that I wouldn’t panic if he has to play). It’s when he kicked inside that was the problem. I assume he would be first up on the depth chart. I just hope D’Ante Smith doesn’t get thrown to the wolves this year.

[Essex Johnson]

(07-13-2021, 12:00 AM)impactplaya Wrote: Id like to.see the Bengals sign.a OT that has a resume
Of playing well at a high level.
Mitchell Schartz comes to.mind.
Taking a chance on expecting a young OT to
Come in and play at a high.level is less than 50%
You need a solid vet who can step in and play
Without having to think about he is supposed to
Do every 3rd snap.

totally agree

[Essex Johnson]

(07-12-2021, 11:30 PM)Bengalstripes9 Wrote: I thought this was going to be about Burrow. The 17 game season starting this year doesn’t do anyone any favors in terms of the injury risk. Hopefully Burrow heals up fully and there’s no knee fatigue. Hopefully he leads some blow outs that allow him to rest in the 4th quarter as well! Late in games and overtime is when fatigue can kick in.

As far as the oline goes, I would think most teams have the same issue with depth. But we certainly are rebuilding and an injury can be costly. Hopefully we see some progress from the young players and the injuries up front are at a minimum. I don’t think there’s much available at this point to upgrade our backups. Maybe there’s a surprise cut we can pounce on. But otherwise I think we’ll be signing someone off the street.

I hope to see this team protect Burrow this year in terms of protecting him up front and with the run game. If he can sneak rest here and there that would be nice to see as well (blowouts please!).

Well just researching our division alone, as it stands we have the least experienced backup tackles than Raven, Browns and even the Steelers which are in rebuild mode on their Oline have more experience than we do at backup tackles

[Essex Johnson]

(07-13-2021, 12:41 AM)bfine32 Wrote: Like most teams we're in trouble if one of our bookends goes down; but we've got options:

Rief can play LT

Jackson can play OT

Johnson is much better at OT than inside

Spain can play on the exterior

Isaiah Prince has a couple starts under his belt

The undersized rookie has talent.

Dominos of moving around with one injury are never good.. ive looked at a few teams first our own division, we have the most inexperience at backup tackles in our own division.. never a good sign, need to sign a Veteran

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-12-2021, 11:27 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: Or linebacker, or defensive end, or QB….

When you’re a bottom of the barrel team injuries can be devastating. We’ve lacked depth for years.

 

I actually feel pretty good about the depth at LB with Evans and Bailey.  I don't believe there is a tremendous drop off from there.  QB?  Huge dropoff, but unless you get a reclamation project like Jamies Winston, most teams don't have a great backup.  

That being said, I do believe the team will make a move with another veteran lineman before the season, since Adeniji is out.  

[GreenCornBengal]

(07-13-2021, 10:57 AM)SHRacerX Wrote:  

I actually feel pretty good about the depth at LB with Evans and Bailey.  I don't believe there is a tremendous drop off from there.  QB?  Huge dropoff, but unless you get a reclamation project like Jamies Winston, most teams don't have a great backup.  

That being said, I do believe the team will make a move with another veteran lineman before the season, since Adeniji is out.  

You feel good about Evans and Bailey? You’ve got low standards man lol

I guess the drop off isn’t too bad at LB since the starters are backup quality players anyways!

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-12-2021, 11:19 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Anyone else starting to become very concerned about our lack of depth at Offensive tackle?  our backup tackles have a total of six starts plus a 4th round rookie who played one game last season in college add in the injury history of Williams we really need to make a move before opening day for a veteran or Burrow could be in real trouble if either Reiff/Williams  go down.

You figure Fred Johnson is the first tackle off the bench.  I know he was awful last year, but I am giving him a pass because he wasn't suited to play guard and I think he, like many others, was caught by surprise that there was actually a season and was not in shape.  

I don't have the numbers to back this up (and this would be a GREAT bar bet), but I believe the games he has started for the Bengals at Tackle, they are 4-0.  That may not be correct, but I think I heard that on one of the podcasts.

He is at least a solid backup.  Losing Adeniji really hurts, though, and I could see the team signing one more veteran before the season.  I have no idea if Smith is ready to come in and play as I know very little about him.  

I personally would like to avoid Carman moving to tackle and hope he develops in to a stalwart at RG.  

[*SHRacerX*]

(07-13-2021, 10:58 AM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: You feel good about Evans and Bailey? You’ve got low standards man lol

I guess the drop off isn’t too bad at LB since the starters are backup quality players anyways!

Evans has a lot of NFL experience and has been a solid contributor when called upon.  Bailey was an absolute stud in college and if he is now 100% recovered from his injury, he could be a real find. 

You have to give the LBs a bit of a pass, as I did our secondary for the last several years due to poor defensive line play.  It seems like defensive line was this year's focus.  Getting Reader back, adding Ogunjobi and Hendrickson, and drafting the likes of Shelvin, Ossai, and Sample should go a long way to keeping the LBs clean and allowing them to flow and make plays.  One thing you can't say about our LBs is that they are slow and not athletic.  If the defensive line does its job, you might get to see them make some plays. 

[Whatever]

(07-13-2021, 01:35 AM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Well just researching our division alone, as it stands we have the least experienced backup tackles than Raven, Browns and even the Steelers which are in rebuild mode on their Oline have more experience than we do at backup tackles

Years is one thing, snaps are another.  Fred Johnson has played more snaps than guys like Steelers backups Ariante Collins and Zach Banner.  One of the Browns backup T's has more years in the league (4) than snaps(3).  Would anyone really be happy if we brought back Andre Smith if the Ravens cut him?  

[*Go Cards*]

Losing any starting O-line players is not a good thing for any team.

Definitely wouldn't mind seeing some depth added if the right "cap" casualties are released but we won't be the only team searching unfortunately.

But more concerned that O-line doesn't come together and Burrow gets hurt again.

On both subjects Im going to just hush and think positive because O-line could be much improved or sketchy as hell.

Yet think they will be much improved actually.

Which is not really hard to do since they're passed out on the floor and nowhere near the ceiling of their potential last year.

Think they're halfway to ceiling if Jonah can stay healthy though.

[Stewy]

(07-12-2021, 11:19 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Anyone else starting to become very concerned about our lack of depth at Offensive tackle?  our backup tackles have a total of six starts plus a 4th round rookie who played one game last season in college add in the injury history of Williams we really need to make a move before opening day for a veteran or Burrow could be in real trouble if either Reiff/Williams  go down.

Should have drafted Sewell.  Too bad you were on the Chase train....

[TJ528]

(07-12-2021, 11:19 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Anyone else starting to become very concerned about our lack of depth at Offensive tackle?  our backup tackles have a total of six starts plus a 4th round rookie who played one game last season in college add in the injury history of Williams we really need to make a move before opening day for a veteran or Burrow could be in real trouble if either Reiff/Williams  go down.

shhhshhh dont say this too loud.  I got call out for being "negative" instead of looking at real issues with the team.  

I mean you should be all about optimism right now Essex.  lol 

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  I've said since the draft this team needs more veteran depth on the OL, LB, and WR. 

If and when the Bengals have injuries, we'll see if our depth is there enough to handle the missing pieces. 

The reason I took under 6.5 wins from Vegas is because I don't believe this team can remain healthy all season.  

A healthy Bengals team I think could win 8 or 9 games with Burrow at the helm.  A team with injuries is in the 5-6 win range. 

[Hammerstripes]

(07-13-2021, 10:58 AM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: You feel good about Evans and Bailey? You’ve got low standards man lol

I guess the drop off isn’t too bad at LB since the starters are backup quality players anyways!

Well, we only play 2 linebackers most of the time, so we are actually in a good spot from a depth standpoint.

[*ochocincos*]

(07-13-2021, 12:00 AM)impactplaya Wrote: Id like to.see the Bengals sign.a OT that has a resume
Of playing well at a high level.
Mitchell Schartz comes to.mind.
Taking a chance on expecting a young OT to
Come in and play at a high.level is less than 50%
You need a solid vet who can step in and play
Without having to think about he is supposed to
Do every 3rd snap.

It's unfortunate that the Bengals didn't pounce on Morgan Moses before the Jets did.
If something happened to Reiff, Moses could jump right in at RT.
If something happened to Jonah, Reiff could shift over to LT and Moses take RT.

Even if Adeniji wasn't going to be out all season due to pectoral injury, I still wouldn't have confidence in the depth at OT.
But then again, I don't really have confidence in Day 3 OT prospects.

We also have to potentially worry about Reiff leaving after this year, yet again potentially creating a need for a starting RT if Carman doesn't shift over there.