Antwan Odom, Chinedum Ndukwe, Bernard Scott....

[WeezyBengal]

Do these players sound old? Like they played a million years ago? Did you completely forget their names?

I did.

You want to know which of our players were still on the Bengal's roster when these guys played for the Bengals back in 2009?

Rey Maualuga, Michael Johnson, and Domata Peko.

Rey Maulaluga and Michael Johnson are 30 years old and Peko will be 33 this year.

Analytics show that there is a MAJOR decline that players experience once they hit 28-29 years old. The graph below shows this:





What im saying is this: these guys need replaced or cut by the beginning of next season. They have all shown some significant decline over the past couple of seasons and my guess (and analytics back this up) is that they play even worse this year.

The trend with defenses over the past couple years has been going from size to speed. You saw it with Atlanta this year. They sacrifice size at certain positions and load up on speed to fly all over the field and swarm to the ball. I hope the Bengals are paying attention and get the necessary players via the draft or free agency to replace some of our older veterans on defense. The youth movement needs to start now.

[Sabretooth]

Good research , agree 100%, however our coaches tend to keep good locker room guys despite sub on field performances.

[lone bengal]

(02-07-2017, 10:53 AM)Sabretooth Wrote: Good research , agree 100%, however our coaches tend to keep good locker room guys despite sub on field performances.

Maulaluga has been on the decline for the past couple years and is completely useless, he cant cover the pass to safe his life and isn't good at stopping the run anymore but i'll guarantee he will be on the roster this upcoming season.  He also shows up to camp fat and out of shape because he has no fear of losing his job and probably wants a contact extension like his under performing head coach.

[yellowxdiscipline]

Remember when our defensive line was one of the best in football.. Guys like Dunlap, Atkins, and MJ were all in their first 4 years. We need to get younger. Dunlap and Atkins are playing still at a high level. Peko and MJ not so much, and the guys we drafted to replace those guys aren't showing up.

[WeezyBengal]

Here is the link to the article where the data comes from. Its actually really informative/interesting.

http://socalledfantasyexperts.com/aging-curve-nfl-defensive-players-dl-lb-db

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Just throwing this out here.. cutting MJ and Maualuga (Peko is the other guy you mention, but he's a FA) would save about $6.5m in cap space.

$6.5m would be about half of the $13m-ish that you'd need to offer Chandler Jones.

/end fantasy

[*ochocincos*]

(02-07-2017, 11:34 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Just throwing this out here.. cutting MJ and Maualuga (Peko is the other guy you mention, but he's a FA) would save about $6.5m in cap space.

$6.5m would be about half of the $13m-ish that you'd need to offer Chandler Jones.

/end fantasy

But should be enough to sign a FA like Jabaal Sheard, who will be 28 at the start of next season. He could be a quality starter for a couple years if the Bengals decide to wait until Day 2 or Day 3 to get a rusher in the draft. Someone like Tanoh Kpassagnon is very raw but has the measurables the Bengals prefer in their DEs. By bringing on Sheard, it would allow Kpassagnon some time to develop.

The problem with a scenario like this is you're still not going to get a double-digit sack master as a starter and also having to coach up a project...something the Bengals are terrible with doing.

[NATI BENGALS]

We have Atkins Sims Billings Hardison Deshawn and Thompson under contract. Without even adding a DT in the draft I think we can move on from Peko.

Maualuga can be replaced by any halfway decent college LB. No way Dawson is worse than him and this point. Burfict Vigil Flowers Rey Dawson and maybe Roach. Cut Maualuga draft a LB and move on.

MJ on the other hand probably needs to stick around. We have Dunlap MJ and Clarke at DE. Preferably MJ takes on a backup role after we draft a stud DE. But we already need to draft a couple DEs to replace Hunt and Gilberry. Cutting MJ makes the hole too big.

[Hammerstripes]

(02-07-2017, 10:53 AM)Sabretooth Wrote: Good research , agree 100%, however our coaches tend to keep good locker room guys despite sub on field performances.

No - our owner won't cut guys with any time left on their contracts because he doesn't want to pay the dead money.

[eoxyod]

Bengals have enough cap to keep MJ as a rotational piece, but the others the team needs to get rid of ASAP. Clarke has stepped up enough to be valuable in rotation, so we need a pass rushing DE in the worst way.
There are about 100 DTs who can replace Peko
Rey would be fine behind the other one as injury insurance but I'm sure he would rather go to a team where he can work well in a 3-4. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see him go to either GB or SF

[Jpoore]

(02-07-2017, 03:45 PM)eoxyod Wrote: Bengals have enough cap to keep MJ as a rotational piece, but the others the team needs to get rid of ASAP. Clarke has stepped up enough to be valuable in rotation, so we need a pass rushing DE in the worst way.
There are about 100 DTs who can replace Peko
Rey would be fine behind the other one as injury insurance but I'm sure he would rather go to a team where he can work well in a 3-4. I actually wouldn't be surprised to see him go to either GB or SF

I would go peko as backup Billings as starter.

[eoxyod]

(02-07-2017, 05:06 PM)Jpoore Wrote: I would go peko as backup Billings as starter.

So we should take a guy with nothing even close to a close guarantee that he will be even serviceable as our starter with a guy who has proven he is well below replacement level as our backup

[Sled21]

(02-07-2017, 05:26 PM)eoxyod Wrote: So we should take a guy with nothing even close to a close guarantee that he will be even serviceable as our starter with a guy who has proven he is well below replacement level as our backup

Not only a guarantee, but a guy with zero NFL snaps, coming off knee surgery.... yeah, that'll work. We saw how good Geno was his first year back after knee surgery. What was it Paulie called him... "Just another guy out there?" And that was about one of the top Dlinemen in the league.

[Jpoore]

(02-07-2017, 05:26 PM)eoxyod Wrote: So we should take a guy with nothing even close to a close guarantee that he will be even serviceable as our starter with a guy who has proven he is well below replacement level as our backup

He had a career year in 2015? He fell off last year

[fredtoast]

Maualuga...replace.

Peko...re-sign but only for sheap and to compete for playing time. The problem with all of our young DTs is that they have not accomplished anything. I like the potential of DeShawn Williams, Hardison, and Billings, but the trutth is that noone of those guys have proven anything. They could all amount to nothing. So re-sign peko sheap just for insurance incase all those guys are duds.

MJ we need to keep. But I would like to see him splitting time with a pass rush specialist. He is not near as bad as a lot of people here claim, but he is trending down.

[fredtoast]

(02-07-2017, 10:42 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote:  You saw it with Atlanta this year. They sacrifice size at certain positions and load up on speed to fly all over the field and swarm to the ball. 

Atlanta's defense was lame this year.

Not sayin g we don't need more speed, but the Falsons are a poor example.

[eoxyod]

(02-07-2017, 05:55 PM)Jpoore Wrote: He had a career year in 2015? He fell off last year

What kind of career year are you talking about? Peko has been bad

[BenZoo2]

(02-07-2017, 02:31 PM)NATI BENGALS Wrote: We have Atkins Sims Billings Hardison Deshawn and Thompson under contract. Without even adding a DT in the draft I think we can move on from Peko.

Maualuga can be replaced by any halfway decent college LB. No way Dawson is worse than him and this point. Burfict Vigil Flowers Rey Dawson and maybe Roach. Cut Maualuga draft a LB and move on.

MJ on the other hand probably needs to stick around. We have Dunlap MJ and Clarke at DE. Preferably MJ takes on a backup role after we draft a stud DE. But we already need to draft a couple DEs to replace Hunt and Gilberry. Cutting MJ makes the hole too big.

I could work with this.  MJ could probably have a nice rebound if able to serve on more of situational role to remain fresh.  Too much dead weight.

[Sabretooth]

(02-07-2017, 03:18 PM)Hammerstripes Wrote: No - our owner won't cut guys with any time left on their contracts because he doesn't want to pay the dead money.

What about under performers who get new contracts ? ( instead of being replaced by someone better,faster,smarter )
ie rey mauuluga

[yellowxdiscipline]

(02-07-2017, 11:34 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Just throwing this out here.. cutting MJ and Maualuga (Peko is the other guy you mention, but he's a FA) would save about $6.5m in cap space.

$6.5m would be about half of the $13m-ish that you'd need to offer Chandler Jones.

/end fantasy

That's exactly what this is, a fantasy. No way in hell our owner does something like this, the blind loyalty and common sense road blocks are preventing this from ever happening.