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What is the Bengals’ biggest free agency decision?


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It is no secret that the Bengals shouldn’t be worried about many, if any of the players from their 2018 free agency class leaving this offseason.

Most of the players are ones that have failed to sustain success over their careers with the Bengals, and it’d be beneficial for both sides to move on.

There is one name though that keeps popping up when people talk about Bengals’ free agents and that is Tyler Eifert.

ESPN put together every team’s biggest free agent decision recently, and to no ones surprise they picked Eifert for the Bengals:

The adage that a player’s best ability is his availability is a common refrain centered around Eifert, who has never played a full season in the five years since the Bengals drafted him. With substantial injury concerns, testing the market will be a tricky endeavor for him, especially when coupled with what appears to be a steady 2018 class of tight end prospects. From the Bengals’ perspective, it’s important to approach this situation on their terms and not overextend.

Verdict: Offer Eifert a one-year, incentive-laden deal tied to being active for games.

This is a verdict I personally agree with. There is no reason to give Eifert a long-term contract. His health has eliminated that at this point. The Bengals will let him field offers, but they should at least make it clear that they’d like to have him back.

Considering players like Jimmy Graham, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Trey Burton and Cameron Brate (Restricted Free Agent) are all hitting the open market as well, it should dilute the market for Eifert as well. It also gives the Bengals some options as far as replacements if Eifert finds a suitor elsewhere.

There is a portion of Bengals fans who probably feel comfortable with Tyler Kroft replacing Eifert full-time, but I personally disagree. Kroft is a valuable tight end to have. He is a great blocker and he is a great red-zone threat, but outside of the red zone he is almost nonexistent.

Eifert rarely is even an option for Andy Dalton when the team isn’t in scoring distance. That is where Eifert was so valuable. No matter where the team was on the field, he was a constant mismatch, and he drew the attention of the defense.

No opposing defenses are worried about ever bracketing coverage against Kroft. That hurts the receivers who are now dealing with the extra coverage.

Also, it eliminates any plays where A.J. Green doesn’t have the possibility of having single coverage. Kroft is a great second tight end to have, but Dalton needs more of a safety blanket than that.

A one-year deal is something that not only the Bengals would love to get Eifert signed to, but something I’m sure he will find as the best option for himself as well after seeing the offers from opposing teams.

The only reason I’d expect him to move on to another team is if he was going to a team that had a top tier quarterback and a system that has proven to have tight ends produce. I don’t know how serious Rob Gronkowski was about retiring, but if he does, Eifert could be a low-investment option for them at the tight end position. Outside of that, I don’t think Eifert is trying to leave a team that features him so heavily on offense.

It is probably best for the Bengals and Eifert to do exactly what ESPN suggested. Eifert gets another chance at a contract year, and the Bengals get another chance at having a loaded offense if things fall the right way.

What do you think the Bengals’ biggest free agency decision is?

 

 

 

https://www.cincyjungle.com/2018/2/18/17008206/what-is-the-bengals-biggest-free-agency-decision

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That article says Eifert has never played a full season due to injury...didn't he play all year in 2015 or am I forgetting something? Or did he miss a game or two and simply had his best season as a Bengal?

 

Also, I disagree that Kroft is "nonexistant" outside the redzone. He's made plays in the open field when his number was called on several occaisions. 

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The nice thing about free agency this year for the team is that there is nobody who is a must re-sign. I expect the team to re-sign Andre Smith, Pat Sims, Chris Smith, Cedric Peerman and maybe Bodine. But we could let our entire free agent class go and replacement them with similar players at similar costs. We could also make moves to bring in better players though that goes against the Bengals methodology. 

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2 hours ago, Bunghole said:

That article says Eifert has never played a full season due to injury...didn't he play all year in 2015 or am I forgetting something? Or did he miss a game or two and simply had his best season as a Bengal?

 

Also, I disagree that Kroft is "nonexistant" outside the redzone. He's made plays in the open field when his number was called on several occaisions. 

Yes

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I assume the Bengals biggest decision will be what toppings to get on their pizza delivery order as they are watching the TV broadcast of all the other teams making strategic moves to improve their teams for a super bowl run.   :ninja:  :lol:

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

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12 hours ago, TimKrumrieFan said:

Biggest decision will be if they decide to actually participate in the 2nd tier of players.

If we drop Pac Man and maybe Michael Johnson we will have money for FA. Signing Eifert to incentive ladden contract makes sense but someone will take a bit of a flyer on him and offer him a 2 year deal with more upfront money.

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36 minutes ago, SF2 said:

If we drop Pac Man and maybe Michael Johnson we will have money for FA. Signing Eifert to incentive ladden contract makes sense but someone will take a bit of a flyer on him and offer him a 2 year deal with more upfront money.

Yea,  I think Eifert has too much talent. I'm sure there will be another team willing to take a risk despite his injury history. Side note: wasn't TJ injured a lot before he became a really solid dependable player.

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On 2/20/2018 at 6:51 AM, SF2 said:

If we drop Pac Man and maybe Michael Johnson we will have money for FA. Signing Eifert to incentive ladden contract makes sense but someone will take a bit of a flyer on him and offer him a 2 year deal with more upfront money.

They have money to do moves now even if they keep Pac and MJ.  They aren't going to cut either and we all know that, sadly.  I wouldn't touch Eifert.  This team needs to move on and focus all time and develop on TE talents they can rely on.  Eifert is immature and injury prone, he can go.  

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5 hours ago, TimKrumrieFan said:

They have money to do moves now even if they keep Pac and MJ.  They aren't going to cut either and we all know that, sadly.  I wouldn't touch Eifert.  This team needs to move on and focus all time and develop on TE talents they can rely on.  Eifert is immature and injury prone, he can go.  

Huh?  Where does this come from?  With all the knuckleheads the Bengals have and have had, how does Eifert qualify as immature?

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Moving on from Bodine is probably the biggest and best decision the team could make.  They seem determined not to upgrade the center position because the tackles were worse but that's not how winners go about things. 

 

We don't have any must-re-sign players. So we could do something like trade a day 3 pick for Cordy Glenn, sign Norwell for 12 mil plus Jensen for 8 and draft a RT in round 1 or 2. If we cut Pac and MJ to fund Norwell, we'd have something like 18 mil in cap space for other things after fixing the O-line. 

 

Or we could go for cheaper options like Josh Sitton or Josh Kline, Weston Richburg, etc. 

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15 minutes ago, sparky151 said:

Moving on from Bodine is probably the biggest and best decision the team could make.  They seem determined not to upgrade the center position because the tackles were worse but that's not how winners go about things. 

 

We don't have any must-re-sign players. So we could do something like trade a day 3 pick for Cordy Glenn, sign Norwell for 12 mil plus Jensen for 8 and draft a RT in round 1 or 2. If we cut Pac and MJ to fund Norwell, we'd have something like 18 mil in cap space for other things after fixing the O-line. 

 

Or we could go for cheaper options like Josh Sitton or Josh Kline, Weston Richburg, etc. 

 

 

Pipe-Dream_o_74635.jpg

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^ yeah lol we wouldn't give our All-Pro tackle a reasonable amount of money to stay here for another 2 years but we're going to put $20M+ into 2 interior line positions that the Bengals have flat out said they don't value as much? Also they're outside guys, we don't give outside UFAs a ton of money. That's just fantasy land stuff here in Cincinnati. I don't even think us looking into the next tier of free agents (Kline, Richburg, etc) will happen TBH.

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Tyler Eifert has played 34% of the Bengals games in the last four seasons. Despite the talent dangled, how can you really roll the dice on him unless it's a decidedly favourable contract for the Bengals?!? At 27 he is likely still a good gamble and I wouldn't jump off the proverbial bridge if they kept him. I would sooner see money spent on him than a bullshit player like Bodine or an over-the-hill  named relic riding out his last contract in the Cincinnati wasteland which, is likely exactly what you're going to get.

 

If the Bengals were going to be smart, move on from Bodine, Eifert, Jones and Johnson and wisely invest that cash in the free agent market in areas of need like the offensive line, I'm all in. The reality is, we know that shit ain't going to happen.

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I really don't see any big FA decisions in terms of keeping players.  Eifert is the most talented of the FAs but I don't think the Bengals have any intention of taking flyer on a guy with a chronic bad back.  

 

The rest of them are easily replaceable thru the draft or the 2nd and 3rd tier FA market. 

 

Am I missing someone?

 

As far as making a big splash in FA, I would not be surprised to see us spend way more money than we are used to on the O-Line.  I think everyone was pretty shocked on just how bad it really is.  Then again, I wouldn't  be shocked if we didn't.

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I can see the conversation go like this.

MB: "Will you come back one more time Marvin?"

Marvin: "Yes, with a commitment to fix the O Line in the offseason"
MB: "How do you see that happening?"

Marvin: "Draft a couple guys and wait two years to start them"

MB: "Ok, we spit in our hands..."

Marvin spits in his hand..

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