IsaacCurtis:TheReal#85

Good points. But I am going to disagree a bit on the front. Yeah, we played SOME 3-4 (5-2) defense, but not that much. Basically, a lot in short yardage, or vs run heavy teams, like Baltimore. 3 NT/DT types. 2 EDGE (DE/OLB) types. Of course, with our terrible LBs and Lawson hurt, those EDGE guys were almost always Dunlap & Hubbard, so it looks like (and is) 5 d-lineman. I think some of our rookie LBs could play some EDGE this year (ADG, + 1 of the UDFAs). We are in Nickel a majority of the time. 5 DBs. 2 LBs. 4 man front. That is going to be Bynes & Pratt to start the year, and on early downs. Later in the year, I can see Wilson pushing either to start. Or on obvious passing downs, I could see both LBs being coverage guys (Pratt, Wilson, ADG, Bailey). Or even a S moving down into a LB spot (likely Bell). But then you are talking Dime. 6 DBs. Several varities possible. 3 safeties, with one playing de facto LB or not. Or 4 corners. Cannot really have 5 lineman in that set. Unless you have safeties in for both LBs (Bell and Williams). But that is going to be in super-obvious passing situations. Which likely takes us to Quarter (7 DBS) or Dollar (8 DBs). Cannot play 5 lineman in those. Have to play 3 in Dollar. We played a bit of base 4-3 last year. Not much. Weak LBs again. Mostly early down stuff vs running teams or shorter yardage. Anyway, my poorly-made, long-winded point is that I cannot see 5 lineman as "starters" on D. We just do not run that front enough (25%-30% max). And when we ARE in it, I think you will see more true LBs/EDGE guys as the OLBs on the line of scrimmage rather than DEs standing up.

Most are lazy. Those dolts do not know the difference between a "reverse" and an end-around. If I hear "shuttle" pas again, I am going to vomit.

So many unknowns for next year. We do not know how the rookies/FAs fit. How does AJ look? How does the O-line look? Do not know how contract talks for AJ/Mixon play out (could use a tag on one). How do our vet stalwarts (Atkins, Dunlap, AJ) play? Is drafting a replacement necessary? Plus, there are some other contributors on the last year of their deals (Lawson, Bynes, Alexander, Tupou, S. Williams, WJ3). Do we bring them back? At what price? We could go in any direction save QB.

Touche. Hobson never does or says anything critical of the team. That is how he still has a job. Quite the opposite, really Blowing smoke and defending the organization. That IS his job. Speaking of, lot of O-line puff pieces lately suggests to me that no more O-line help is coming.

If Price could start playing like a competent backup, it would help a ton. We'd have (potentially) 7 semi-competent lineman with cover at C-G & T (Johnson/Hart). He has a long was to go but at least he is trying to improve.

I read somewhere you still get +1 (47) even if the "extra" is not an OL. 48 if one extra is an OL. I'd imagine you just pick your top 46 as normal. Subtract an OL. Add whomever #47 would have been. Then submit that OL + another guy as your "extras."

1. It is all private labs. It has been the whole time. That is part of the proble. The feds did nada. And you still have displacement, if they are testing X they are not testing Y. 2. PPE. True for medical folk. But for folks who work in meat processing plants, grocery stores, or drive the bus, not so much. My cousin works at Wallmart in KY, and she says people SPIT on them, every day, when they try to enforce social distancing/mask wearing. 3. All this happy talk, re-open talk is going on now. You know the idiot factor will be high. People will crowd beaches & bars if allowed in some places. Some GOVs won't be strict enough (though Dewine & Beshar have both been pretty good in our corner). A spike will happen long before September. Count on it.

The O-line will be a multi-year process. But we have a decent start. 1) The scheme change. It looked like it helped everyone. Jordan and Hart in particular played better in the second half. And Johnson looked decent. XSF is supposed to match the scheme well. 2) From Sieve to Strength Usually takes more than 1 year. Jordan (early), Hart (early), Price, Redmond, and Smith were sieves last year. Jerry was not much better. Check out our PFF grades for last year (GS/G): 1. C Hopkins (16/16) 62.4 2. RT Hart (16/16) 57.7 (better 2nd) 3. LG Jordan (9/13) 43.7 (70+ 2nd) 4. RG Su'a-Filo (4/11) 60.1 5. LT Williams (DNP) If the 2nd half improvements from Jordan (who was around 35 for the first half) and Hart hold, everyone should be over 60 for the year. If so, perhaps the line won't be a strength, but at least it won't be a weakness. Only 2 other Bengals lineman graded out over 60 last year: 6. LT Glenn (5/6) 68.4 (released) 7. T/G Johnson (1/6) 62.6 8. RG Miller (13/13) 58.6 (released) 9. G/T Jerry (5/11) 55.6 (gone) 10. T Smith (5/6) 51.0 (waived) 11. G Redmond (2/3) 50.6 12. G/C Price (8/16) 41.8 3) Glenn factor In addition to the scheme change, and the Jordan/Hart strides, the other major factor in the line not looking like total crap late last year was Cordy Glenn at LT. He was, by far, our highest graded lineman last year. But he is gone, which leads us to.. 4) Across the board starter improvement There is no way Jordan will be as bad to start the year as he was last year. Experience, the new scheme, and having a competent LT beside him should again see an uptick. That LT should be even better with Williams this year. If Williams is a stud and Jordan is better than the end of last year, the left side could be a real strength. The rest of the line is merely competent, at best. Hopkins was OK, and perhaps improves some in his 2nd year at C. XSF is a slight upgrade on Miller. Hart improved but most hope Johnson beats him out. 5) Poor depth Aside from Johnson, there is not much here to inspire confidence. Price was awful last year and his contract may be the only reason he is still here, along with his ability to play C. Hopefully injuries played a part. Redmond was better than Price, but still not very good. Adeniji is a versatile piece who is probably a year away from contributing. Prince & Dugas did not play last year. 6) Going forward If not this year, then hopefully next, we see at least 2 more additions to the line. A real plus player at C/G & T. Draft or FA. This bumps 1-2 of Hopkins, Hart/Johnson, and XSF to the bench (whomever does not play well this year), where they join Adeniji as perfectly fine backups. Redmond & Price walk. Now, if Hopkins, Johnson/Hart, and/or XSF knock it out of the park this year (or Price does), adjust accordingly.

I think best case scenario is games with no fans. But even that will require huge ramp ups in testing & PPE availability. I do not think any sports league wants the PR hit of hoarding PPE/tests to make playing in a bubble safe while front line/essential workers are dying because they don't have any.

Quote I heard was that he was willing to play RT and mentor. https://www.profootballrumors.com/2020/03/jason-peters-open-to-playing-rt Plus, most contenders are already set at LT, if not all of them, now that Williams is a 49er. As for Warford, he graded out as the 7th best run blocking G in the league, but also allowed a team high 32 QB pressures. https://www.battleredblog.com/2020-nfl-free-agency/2020/5/8/21252864/2020-nfl-free-agency-rumors-texans-reportedly-interested-in-larry-warford Either is still an upgrade for us, though I'd prefer Peters. He graded higher last year (82 to 73), likely comes cheaper and on a shorter term deal, and we are thinner at T than G.

Well, I think we end up 6-10 or 7-9. But I think there are a lot of winnable games early. I can see a scenario where we win some games early, build confidence, and really get rolling. Saw some takes that the early schedule was tough. I don't see that at all. The END is the tough part. Though I will say 4 of the first 6 away is tough, but aside from at Baltimore..all those games are winnable. Aside from the 2 Ravens games and at Pitt, I think we can be competitive everywhere else. And the Ravens could very well have nothing to play for in Week 17. The Chargers were 5-11 last year & Rivers left. The opener should be a win. The Browns are improved at OT, but we stomped them once last year. They were 6-10 FFS. Even away, that game is winnable. At Philly is tough. But they were 9-7 in a mediocre division. Hardly world beaters. We are underdogs but not huge ones. Jacksonville at home is a game we should win. They were 6-10 last year. I see a 2-2 start as likely and 3-1 a real possibility. At Ravens is our toughest game of the year. At Indy will be challenging with Rivers, but SD had him last year & stunk at 5-11. He can get hot, but often is not. Browns at home is winnable. Titans beat NE, but were only 9-7. If we can stop the run, and that was our main focus on D, we have a chance. Game is at home.

I love what the team did in FA and the draft. Productive guys. Winners. Captains. Leaders. Coaches sons. Hard workers. To borrow a line from the Cavs GM, "fountains and not drains." As long as the fountains can play, and these guys look like they can. Still, we have a lot of new faces, unproven guys, an unproven coaching staff, and lots of new starters, a rookie QB, and play in the toughest division in the conference. With all that, plus the covid situation will hit us harder than more experienced teams with less turnover, I figure modest improvement. My range is 4-9 wins. I deem 6-7 most likely, followed by 8-9, then 4-5. I figure 10 or more is more likely than 3 or less. If we sign a some proven OL/TE help, I may bump it one or two.

Though I am not a fan of the "standing pat on the OL from here" strategy, one thing about it is we will find out some answers. Was the late season Jordan/Hart improvement real or more of a schedule mirage? Is Jonah the real deal? Is XSF a starter quality player? Is Fred Johnson legit? Will Price turn into a player now that he is healthy? Problem is, if some of those questions get answered in the negative, we are gonna suck. I prefer a vet security blanket. Joe is too valuable. Of course, if none of the vet lineman want to come here....then there is nothing we can do.

True, but name the last Super Bowl winner with a $10 mil RB? The Pats? Nope. Chiefs? Nope. Eagles? Nope. Saints? Nope. Been a while. Unless I am forgetting someone. The fact is, behind a good offensive line, slightly above average guys will look like borderline Pro-Bowlers (see Dalton, Andy). A great offensive line, and Pro-Bowlers will look like all-timers (see Aikman, Troy). Behind a poor offensive line , pro-bowlers often look like crap. I like Mixon as a player, but we can get 80%-90% of him for 25% of the cost. There are Swift/Dobbins/Taylor types coming out every year.

For what it's worth, rostered guys by draft round: 1st: (7). Burrow, Green, J. Williams, Waynes, Jackson, Ross, Price. 2nd (10). Dunlap, Mixon, Boyd, Bell, Bates, Higgins, Bernard, Su'a-Filo, Alexander, Sample, 3rd (4). Pratt, Hubbard, S. Williams, Wilson. 4th (6-8). Atkins, Jordan, Lawson, Davis-Gaither, Glasgow, Finley, Wren, Perine. 5th (7-8). Reader, Uzomah, Huber, Bullock, Phillips, Kareem, A. Brown, Sims. 6th: (3+). B. Wilson, T. Williams, Schreck, Adeniji, Evans, Anderson, Thomas, Prince, Boehringer. 7th (4). Hart, Tate, Harris, Bailey. UDFA (7+). Bynes, Hopkins, F. Johnson, Tupou, Erickson, Carter, Redmond, Willis, Sheldon, Morgan, McTyer, Mabin, T. Henderson, Franks, Irwin, Akinmoladun, Lodge, Rose, Brown, Dugas, Godsil, Dolegala, Calitro, Patrick. Plus the 10 UDFAs we have in this thread. We'll have more UDFA's make the roster than guys drafted in any round save perhaps the 2nd.