Offseason Needs LB

[MichaelWeston]

As far as I can tell ignoring the guys that may return in free agency I see our needs as: 2^nd WR, LT, C, RG, RT, K, LDT, RDE, SLB, MLB, S, CB, CB, Backup QB, RB Depth. These are at all kinds of different levels. Some can be filled in house, some will be filled with re-signed free agents, some will have to come from the draft or free agency.

·        Vigil 6-2 239, 23

o       21 tackles

·        Maualuga 6-2 258, 30

o       27 tackles, 1 int

·        Dansby 6-3 251, 35

o       114 tackles, 1 sack, 0 int

·        Rey 6-0 250, 29

o       86 tackles, 1 int.

·        John Simon 6-1 260, 26

o       51 tackles, 3.5 sacks. Simon fought injuries at the end of the year.

·        Alex Okafor 6-4 261, 25

o       13 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 8 sacks 2014

·        Akeem Ayers 6-3 255, 27

o       21 tackles, 2 sacks

·        Sam Acho 6-3 260, 28

o       27 tackles, 1 sack

·        Jelani Jenkins 6-0 240, 24

o       29 tackles, 110 tackles 2014, 71 tackles 2015. Seems like a possible high upside signing.

·        Zach Brown 6-1 248, 27

o       149 tackles, 4 sacks, 1 int 4 pass break ups. I wanted Brown last year and want him again. Great year probably took him out of our market

·        Nick Bellore 6-1 250, 27

o       83 tackles, 1 sack, 1 int. Usual special teamer that filled in well due to injuries. Likely doesn’t have coverage skills we covet.

·        Sean Spence 5-11 231, 26

o       54 tackles, 3 sacks. Very athletic former Steeler. Might fit well in the rotation.

·        Sean Weatherspoon 6-2 244, 29

o       Ruptured Achilles after many previous injuries. Could be an ideal 2^nd week+ pickup. 27 tackles in 4 games. Looked like he was going to have a great season before his injury. He is often injured.

·        Bruce Carter 6-2 240, 28

o       16 tackles in 2016

Projection: It’s hard for me to project this position because I don’t really understand what we are looking for in the position anymore. I know we want atleast 2 cover guys that can play WLB and MLB and play all 3 downs. I don’t know what the SLB position is anymore. Is it a pass rush position like it was prior to Lamur when we had guys like Reinard Wilson and even tried Robert Geathers and Micheal Johnson there or is it Lamur/Dansby and more of a cover guy. I just don’t know. If it’s the pass rusher Simon-Okafor-Ayers or Acho might fit. If it’s a coverage guy that’s Brown-Spence-Jenkins and Carter. I am most interested in Brown-Jenkins-Spence and Weatherspoon in that order.

[Jpoore]

If we adress by draft which let's be honest is what we're gonna do, I would play vigil as the slb and burfict as the wlb and play McMillan at the Mike.

Sent from my 2PYB2 using Go-Bengals.com mobile app

[akiliMVP]

9 hours ago, Jpoore said:

If we adress by draft which let's be honest is what we're gonna do, I would play vigil as the slb and burfict as the wlb and play McMillan at the Mike.

Sent from my 2PYB2 using Go-Bengals.com mobile app
 

McMillan is a 2 down player in the NFL. Not a good athlete. Stiff in coverage.

[fredtoast]

We need 2 LBs.  One to replace both Dansby and Maualuga.  With 11 picks we willm draft multiple LBs.  We will also probably sign a reasonably priced free agent.  LB is a cheap position to fill in free agency.  We did a good job of re-building our LB corps in 2011 with Thomas Hpward and Manny Lawson.  Both of those guy were reasonably priced, but they were still young and athletic.  The last few years we have gone with older players and failed (Harrison, Hawk, Dansby), but Dansby was coming off a very productive season and Harrison just did not fit our needs very well.

 

I am guessing we sign a guy like Akeem ayers and still draft 2 LBs.  The young guys we have on our roster (Roach, Flowers, ect) are not rookies.  they are not going to suddenly make a huge improvement in their play.  It is time to look elsewhere.

[akiliMVP]

Vigil is a MLB. I think he'd be a solid starter.

Dansby definitely needs upgraded.