Bengals re-sign Winston

[NATI BENGALS]

(03-09-2016, 08:37 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: I'm not sure why anyone is surprised. They kept Winston last year even with the addition of 2 rookie tackles (Ogbuehi was healthy later in the season).

Now they're letting Andre go, so why wouldn't they keep Winston?

He is a year older. And was worse last year than at any point in his career.

They are not rookies any more. Ogbuehi is healthy and got experience, Fisher got his feet wet too. Boling is locked in long term and can play tackle. Whit signed back.

Better question is why is he back? If we are playing against anyone other than a super scrub team. And Winston is taking meaningful snaps against a halfway decent defender. We are in a really bad spot. Not to mention we gave him over a million bucks. Anything over vet minimum is far too much.

Sure its cool to see a real life Shrek standing on the sidelines. But the fact he takes up a roster spot and costs us money that could have gone to extending Zeitler and or bringing Andre back kills all of that.

[Shake n Blake]

(03-09-2016, 08:47 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: He is a year older. And was worse last year than at any point in his career.

They are not rookies any more. Ogbuehi is healthy and got experience, Fisher got his feet wet too. Boling is locked in long term and can play tackle. Whit signed back.

Better question is why is he back? If we are playing against anyone other than a super scrub team. And Winston is taking meaningful snaps against a halfway decent defender. We are in a really bad spot. Not to mention we gave him over a million bucks. Anything over vet minimum is far too much.

Sure its cool to see a real life Shrek standing on the sidelines. But the fact he takes up a roster spot and costs us money that could have gone to extending Zeitler and or bringing Andre back kills all of that.

You don't think it makes sense to keep a veteran presence around when you're transitioning to an unproven tackle who is coming off an injury? 

We paid him 1.09 million. The vet minimum for a 10 year veteran in 2016 is $985,000. You're complaining about 100k?

https://www.spotrac.com/blog/nfl-minimum-salaries-for-2015-and-the-veteran-cap-benefit-rule/

If you want to extend Zeitler, then you should be happy we signed Winston over Andre. Andre would cost 6+ million per. Not only that, you'd be keeping Ogbuehi on the bench.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(03-09-2016, 08:39 PM)RoyleRedlegs Wrote: He's also the only backup G on roster right now.

In a few months we will draft a C/G type in the draft. 
If he looks the part in pre-season, Winston could be cut. 

(03-09-2016, 08:47 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Now this I could see. For now it makes sense to sign him, but if we draft some o-linemen I'm sure he'll be on the bubble.

For sure, it is not like it is etched in stone he will be here starting day but better bringing him back now than later.

[NATI BENGALS]

(03-09-2016, 09:14 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: You don't think it makes sense to keep a veteran presence around when you're transitioning to an unproven tackle who is coming off an injury? 

We paid him 1.09 million. The vet minimum for a 10 year veteran in 2016 is $985,000. You're complaining about 100k?

https://www.spotrac.com/blog/nfl-minimum-salaries-for-2015-and-the-veteran-cap-benefit-rule/

If you want to extend Zeitler, then you should be happy we signed Winston over Andre. Andre would cost 6+ million per. Not only that, you'd be keeping Ogbuehi on the bench.

Yea man. Dude was on his couch two years ago. And we act like we found some irreplaceable piece. Give a young guy a shot or somebody with any type of upside. We know exactly what Winston is. A guy that if we have to count on to block a good NFL defender we are in a world of shit. He flat out isn't good. And if anything he is on the downside, he is not getting better with age. And really if we needed him. I think he would be available on his couch where we found him.

There are countless replacement level NFL linemen available. We didn't find some unknown goldmine sitting on his couch. This is the type of back end of the roster guy you are supposed to try to replace. We have veterans galore on the offensive line, our best team leader Whit will show the young guys all they need to know. And we have a first and second round pick from last year that could play RT in a pinch. I'd rather give an UDFA a chance for league minimum. We might get lucky and find someone with some value.

If Winston has to come in and save the day. The day will not be saved.

[Shake n Blake]

(03-09-2016, 09:59 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: Yea man. Dude was on his couch two years ago. And we act like we found some irreplaceable piece. Give a young guy a shot or somebody with any type of upside. We know exactly what Winston is. A guy that if we have to count on to block a good NFL defender we are in a world of shit. He flat out isn't good. And if anything he is on the downside, he is not getting better with age. And really if we needed him. I think he would be available on his couch where we found him.

There are countless replacement level NFL linemen available. We didn't find some unknown goldmine sitting on his couch. This is the type of back end of the roster guy you are supposed to try to replace. We have veterans galore on the offensive line, our best team leader Whit will show the young guys all they need to know. And we have a first and second round pick from last year that could play RT in a pinch. I'd rather give an UDFA a chance for league minimum. We might get lucky and find someone with some value.

If Winston has to come in and save the day. The day will not be saved.

Adam Jones was on his couch. So were Cedric Benson, Dhani Jones, Crocker, Gilberry, etc etc.

Winston is a backup level player, but he's better than some backups we've had (Dennis Roland and Marshall Newhouse come to mind). You can't have a roster full of all-pros.

Look at it this way. It frees us up in the draft (a tackle isn't a dire need) and if we draft a backup guard/tackle, you'll probably get your wish and Winston will be released. For now I think it was smart to sign him. There's no harm in it.

[jfkbengals]

I'd rather have paid Andre to be the starter and let Fisher and Ced be swing backups.

The combined rookie numbers for those two are close to what Winston was making as the backup last year, so why not get Andre back on a similar deal to what he had and jettison Winston?

[Benton]

(03-09-2016, 06:27 PM)jj22 Wrote: Depth signing, but surprising with two drafted linemen in back to back rounds.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/3648/eric-Winston

Not too much, especially if we're moving on from Smith. We've got two high round draft picks, but both are question marks.

I didn't think we'd bring him back, but I was also thinking we'd need to free up around $3-4 million for Sanu. That signing surprised me a bit.

[Benton]

(03-10-2016, 07:46 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: I'd rather have paid Andre to be the starter and let Fisher and Ced be swing backups.

The combined rookie numbers for those two are close to what Winston was making as the backup last year, so why not get Andre back on a similar deal to what he had and jettison Winston?

But Smith isn't very good. 

[jfkbengals]

(03-10-2016, 07:50 PM)Benton Wrote: But Smith isn't very good. 

Above average starter at RT, which neither of the drat picks are at this point.

Winston isn't even close to that at this point.

Get rid of the weakest link, not the strongest (amongst those 4).

[phil413]

nice signing, gives cheap stability as a vet backup T/G and maybe the kids pickup some tips.

[XenoMorph]

(03-10-2016, 07:55 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: Above average starter at RT, which neither of the drat picks are at this point.

Winston isn't even close to that at this point.

Get rid of the weakest link, not the strongest (amongst those 4).

except andre gets beat badly... and for a road grader RT we ran better behind whit and boiling.