Lets Face It, Losing Jones and Sanu Hurts

[kevin]

We are now in dire need of WR help or AJ Green will just be double covered, as when Jones and Sanu were injured. If the Bengals hope to make it 6 play-off seasons in a row and try to win in play-offs before this team falls apart and needs rebuilt across the board, then getting top WR help for this season just became the primary goal. Bengals thought they could keep Jones, but they were wrong. Sanu did so much and that will be missed. ....I'm reading Bengals won't get a free agent WR. ....The draft better bring us lots of talent at WR, more than just one top WR, because we just lost 2 top WR.

[*ochocincos*]

(03-10-2016, 06:16 PM)kevin Wrote: We are now in dire need of WR help or AJ Green will just be double covered, as when Jones and Sanu were injured.  If the Bengals hope to make it 6 play-off seasons in a row and try to win in play-offs before this team falls apart and needs rebuilt across the board, then getting top WR help for this season just became the primary goal. Bengals thought they could keep Jones, but they were wrong. Sanu did so much and that will be missed. ....I'm reading Bengals won't get a free agent WR. ....The draft better bring us lots of talent at WR, more than just one top WR, because we just lost 2 top WR.

*Unless FA was cut so as to not count against compensatory picks for 2017.

The Bengals will now wait at least a few days for FA to settle before they pick up a cut vet FA for $3 mill or under.
They will also draft a WR high.

If they don't get a vet, expect two WRs in the draft. Probably two within the first three rounds.

[Crowe]

(03-10-2016, 06:16 PM)kevin Wrote: We are now in dire need of WR help or AJ Green will just be double covered, as when Jones and Sanu were injured.  If the Bengals hope to make it 6 play-off seasons in a row and try to win in play-offs before this team falls apart and needs rebuilt across the board, then getting top WR help for this season just became the primary goal. Bengals thought they could keep Jones, but they were wrong. Sanu did so much and that will be missed. ....I'm reading Bengals won't get a free agent WR. ....The draft better bring us lots of talent at WR, more than just one top WR, because we just lost 2 top WR.

Yea but both can be replaced. Remember they were are number 3 and at times 5 options if you look at it as such Green, Eifert, Jones, Bernard, Sanu in that order

[Essex Johnson]

(03-10-2016, 06:16 PM)kevin Wrote: We are now in dire need of WR help or AJ Green will just be double covered, as when Jones and Sanu were injured.  If the Bengals hope to make it 6 play-off seasons in a row and try to win in play-offs before this team falls apart and needs rebuilt across the board, then getting top WR help for this season just became the primary goal. Bengals thought they could keep Jones, but they were wrong. Sanu did so much and that will be missed. ....I'm reading Bengals won't get a free agent WR. ....The draft better bring us lots of talent at WR, more than just one top WR, because we just lost 2 top WR.

Sure it hurts but I think i see where the Bengals have went to in the draft.  They drafted two TEs and one WR last year.  I believe they predicted they would not be able to hold both Jones and Sanu.. and possible lose both.  They already have Sanu replacement,  that is Eiffert.. he will lineup outside even more this year.. I see that as their plan and why they drafted two TEs last year.. Koft will see alot of action at TE and Uzomah will also .

Alford and Birkhead will have increased roles.. and we will draft a speed WR.

Funny last year the complaint was we have too many people to throw the ball too.. well this year we will have less but I still see a solid core of WRs especially adding in Bernard.

[WeezyBengal]

We won't know how much it hurts until the season starts. Until then, its speculation.

Who says another guy on this roster, another FA, or a drafted rookie wont step up and produce?

[fredtoast]

This is what happens to really good teams. They develop more good players than they can afford to keep.

It hurts to lose two WRs, but neither was our number one. I don't see any way we use a first round pick on a #2 WR while we have Eifert.

We will sign a cheap free agent and probably draft 2 WRs, but we won't take one before the third round. Possibly second round, but I am betting third or later.

[jj22]

The weakest offensive draft in a decade, and of course we need offensive weapons!

I expected to lose both Jones and Sanu, but this was bad timing for an offense that was finally coming along, and no solid replacements available in free agency and the draft.

[spazz70]

We may have lost our "#2 wide receiver" but we did not lose our #2 receiver...Eifert is our #2....The progression is Green, Eifert and then whomever else is on the field....When Jones had his big year he was the true #2...When Sanu had his big year he was the #1 for many games...These guys are replaceable on many levels...A vet WR,a guy on the roster or a draft pick will more than likely be sufficient enough to round out our receiving corp barring injuries to Green and Eifert....

[fredtoast]

(03-10-2016, 06:51 PM)jj22 Wrote: The weakest offensive draft in a decade, and of course we need offensive weapons!

I expected to lose both Jones and Sanu, but this was bad timing for an offense that was finally coming along, and no solid replacements available in free agency and the draft.

The draft is thin if looking for a #1 WR.  there will be someone available who can be a decent #2.

Just think if the Bengals had not already extended A J and he was a free agent right now.  Good thing our front office was pro-active on that.

[kevin]

I like AJ, I like Eifert.....but a good team hits you with too many good receivers to cover. ....Steelers have had teams of many good receivers.  The 49ers killed us with all their receivers in the 80's.  ...You can't say it's ONLY a # 2 WR or ONLY a # 3 WR in todays NFL......The Rams won the Super Bowl with 4 tough WR's......The Bengals best years were when we were loaded at WR, such as 1981. .......A WR and a TE is to college ball to win in the NFL, as much as I like AJ and Eifert......We can hope there is a Cris Collinsworth in the draft that comes in and dominates as a rookie, we can hope.  That year we drafted 2 WRs at the top back to back, Verser and Collinsworth.  Adding them to Curtis and our top TE resulted in Super Bowl. .....Bengals may have to do this again because they just lost top talent at WR. .....Now Dalton will have to get the timing down with new receivers and that takes time....It is a huge loss.....replacing them has to now be top priority.  The new offensive coordinator said it would be if we lost both Jones and Sanu

That some are now excited that they still have Tate shows a huge need for replacing these losses at WR to avoid AJ double covered all game, every game. 

[bengals67]

I think it was way more important to spend money on Iloka and Pacman.

How much of the success of Marvin Jones and Sanu was because Green gets all the attention.

TJ thought he was going to be the number one when he left.

It would be nice to keep both but too much money would have been in the WR position cutting our ability to extend guys like Eifert and our guard both of whom are up next year.

Bengals management is really in the top quarter if not higher in how they manage their payroll to keep a consistent contender.

[BengalChris]

Why do people keep saying that Marvin Jones was the #3 or #4 receiving option? He had the 2nd most catches and receiving yards on the team. Eifert was 3rd and Gio was 4th, Sanu was 5th and Tate was like 99th. LOL

Eifert was thrown to more in the redzone, for obvious reasons.

We'll still need someone who can get open from the WR spot, otherwise, AJ Green is going to double coverage everywhere he goes.

[jfkbengals]

(03-10-2016, 07:04 PM)spazz70 Wrote: We may have lost our "#2 wide receiver" but we did not lose our #2 receiver...Eifert is our #2....The progression is Green, Eifert and then whomever else is on the field....When Jones had his big year he was the true #2...When Sanu had his big year he was the #1 for many games...These guys are replaceable on many levels...A vet WR,a guy on the roster or a draft pick will more than likely be sufficient enough to round out our receiving corp barring injuries to Green and Eifert....

True, but that whomever else has to be able to make the play when their number is called, which both Jones and Sanu proved they could do.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not crying that we lost them both.  Given the choice of holding onto our FA receivers or defenders, I would take the defenders.  But it sure would have been nice to hold on to one of them.

[XenoMorph]

(03-10-2016, 06:16 PM)kevin Wrote: We are now in dire need of WR help or AJ Green will just be double covered, as when Jones and Sanu were injured. If the Bengals hope to make it 6 play-off seasons in a row and try to win in play-offs before this team falls apart and needs rebuilt across the board, then getting top WR help for this season just became the primary goal. Bengals thought they could keep Jones, but they were wrong. Sanu did so much and that will be missed. ....I'm reading Bengals won't get a free agent WR. ....The draft better bring us lots of talent at WR, more than just one top WR, because we just lost 2 top WR.

it hurts but its not a death blow. You still have AJ and Eifert.

You had kroft emerging last year as a reliable pass catcher.

And while not top of the line we have guys that have shown a little promise in Wright, Alford, Tate, Burkhead.

and thats before we sign anyone. Which since both got away (congrats boys on big pay days hopefully you see it all) We will likely see a draft pick and a free agency signing or 2.

We dont need to go out and sign another #1 to go across from AJ but decent talent will do when talking about filling out the field.

keeping one would have been nice but not at those prices... Jones finally managed a full year on the field (his first) and sanu comes up with some clutch plays here and there but was leading the league in drops just the year before.

what hurts the most is they know the system and have a good repor with dalton. So whoever we sign needs to fly out to Cali with dalton asap.

[motoarch]

I could replace sanu. Who here doesn't think I can drop passes? Losing jones sucks but not so much sanu. We can put a garbage can with wheels on it out wide and do as well.

[fredtoast]

(03-10-2016, 07:10 PM)BengalChris Wrote: Why do people keep saying that Marvin Jones was the #3 or #4 receiving option? He had the 2nd most catches and receiving yards on the team.

I agree.  I just bring up Eifert to show that we did have a decent #2 option.

In 2009 our entire passing game collapsed when Chris Henry went down with injury.  Even though he had not caught a lot of passes he kept the defenses honest.  When neither Caldwell or Coles prove to be any threat to get open deep against single coverage defenses bracket Ocho and shut down our passing game.

So in '09 the #2 WR position was crucial to our offense, but that was only because in '09 we had zero receiving threat from the TEs (Foschi, Coats) or the RB (Benson).  With Eifert and Bernard we have some other threats that will soften the blow of losing Jones.  If we just plug in a piece of garbage our offense will suffer, but it won't be as drastic as it was in '09. 

[Atomic Orange]

Just pretend they never played here and we signed them to the contracts DET and ATL signed them to.

Feel better?

[fredtoast]

(03-10-2016, 07:22 PM)Atomic Orange Wrote: Just pretend they never played here and we signed them to the contracts DET and ATL signed them to.

Feel better?

Jones was the top rated WR in free agency.  And despite what a lot of people here claim I think he has the skill set to be a #1 WR.  So I was not too surprised that he got $8 mil a year.

I also like Sanu a lot more than many people here, but no way he is worth $6.5 mil per year.  

Add in the fact that we already have a #1 WR and I wonder how fans would have felt if we paid $14.5 million a year for a #2 and #3.

[BengalChris]

(03-10-2016, 06:16 PM)kevin Wrote: We are now in dire need of WR help or AJ Green will just be double covered, as when Jones and Sanu were injured.  If the Bengals hope to make it 6 play-off seasons in a row and try to win in play-offs before this team falls apart and needs rebuilt across the board, then getting top WR help for this season just became the primary goal. Bengals thought they could keep Jones, but they were wrong. Sanu did so much and that will be missed. ....I'm reading Bengals won't get a free agent WR. ....The draft better bring us lots of talent at WR, more than just one top WR, because we just lost 2 top WR.

It does suck, especially Marvin Jones.

If Marvin Jones had signed, I keep wondering if we would have been able to come to terms with Adam Jones.

In any case, the team had chances last year to draft a WR early and didn't.

Now we'll have to sign someone on the cheap, presumably to fill the slot position while we draft one or two receivers.

One thing is for certain, I would very much like the team to draft a returner.

[jfkbengals]

(03-10-2016, 07:27 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Jones was the top rated WR in free agency.  And despite what a lot of people here claim I think he has the skill set to be a #1 WR.  So I was not too surprised that he got $8 mil a year.

I also like Sanu a lot more than many people here, but no way he is worth $6.5 mil per year.  

Add in the fact that we already have a #1 WR and I wonder how fans would have felt if we paid $14.5 million a year for a #2 and #3.

fixed it for ya