2022-2023 Bengals Football (Information, Predictions, & General Discussion)

[MJAlltheWay24]

10 minutes ago, CincySportsFan said:

Got to be honest...none of those names are blowing me away.  Saw one draft predictor say maybe they go after Jeremy Ruckert (OSU) in the 3rd round for that position.

None of them blow me away either, but they are serviceable.  Are they cheaper than Uzomah?  

Just give me one that can block on the edge.

[ChickenWyngz]

7 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Also, I think Hubbard gets more reps at DT this year although that will likely be in passing situations. Who will be the 1st down run stuffing DT alongside Reader?

Josh Topou and Shelvin. 

[nees1212]

1 hour ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

Looking at TE free agents, and I don't think I've seen these guys names as signed yet:

Eric Ebron

Gerald Everett

Robert Tonyan

Jared Cook

Tyler Kroft

Maxx Williams

Anthony Firkser

OJ Howard

Seems like there are plenty of names out there.

If they can get him for the right price, I wouldn't mind seeing them get OJ Howard.  He's a former first round pick that hasn't quite put it all together.  He was a guy that many thought the Bengals should've taken a few years ago.  He's been overshadowed by Gronk the past 2 years.  A change of scenery may do him good.

[ChickenWyngz]

2 minutes ago, nees1212 said:

If they can get him for the right price, I wouldn't mind seeing them get OJ Howard.  He's a former first round pick that hasn't quite put it all together.  He was a guy that many thought the Bengals should've taken a few years ago.  He's been overshadowed by Gronk the past 2 years.  A change of scenery may do him good.

Agree.

[Tones]

I love the versatility that he can play either. I am working under the assumption that we are still working to keep Quentin Spain who had a very serviceable year for us last year. For comparison, PFF has Spain at 72.3 and Karras at 73.0.

[theguru]

At least we have options at TE.  This is from si.com, they have several possibilities listed but this one stood out to me because of the connection to Coach Taylor:

Gerald Everett — Everett is a natural replacement. He had 48 receptions for 478 yards and four touchdowns for the Seahawks last season. He's athletic, only 27-years-old and he was in Los Angeles with Zac Taylor as a member of the Rams. 

Here is another one from the list that may have not been mentioned above:

Tyler Conklin — He had 61 receptions for 593 yards and three touchdowns last season for the Vikings. He's only 26-years-old and could stabilize the tight end position for the Bengals for the foreseeable future. 

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/gm-report/analyzing-bengals-options-tight-end-cj-uzomah-new-york-jets

I will say I feel strongly we need to sign a FA TE.

[futurecoach]

14 hours ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

And losing the DT hurts big time.

 

They kept the one they probably wanted to keep more out of the two at DT. 

[futurecoach]

12 hours ago, ChickenWyngz said:

Josh Topou and Shelvin. 

 

13 hours ago, ChickenWyngz said:

They have more than enough DT depth to overcome that. He's a big loss, but not insurmountable, especially with signing Hill back. They have a couple young guys that a lot of people considered close but didn't really get game reps with the DT health they had last year. 

Given the current roster status, Uzomah is the bigger loss for sure because I don't see Sample filling that roll. 

They do not have more than enough DT depth to overcome that. They have a bunch of true NT types in Reader, Tupou, and Shelvin. They only have one true 3T now that Larry O left. Which with the defense the Bengals ran a lot last year. They had Reader and and two 3T guys in at same time in both Hill and Larry O and Hubbard and Hendrickson standing up off the edge. 
 

Yes Hubbard can bump down to a 3T on pass situations now with Ossai back. However, that plan goes away if Ossai or Hendrickson gets hurt. So DT definitely is a spot they still need more depth at, specifically at the 3T. 

[futurecoach]

12 hours ago, nees1212 said:

If they can get him for the right price, I wouldn't mind seeing them get OJ Howard.  He's a former first round pick that hasn't quite put it all together.  He was a guy that many thought the Bengals should've taken a few years ago.  He's been overshadowed by Gronk the past 2 years.  A change of scenery may do him good.

I would love to have him. He is who I wanted the year they drafted John Ross instead. 

[Voice of Reason]

40 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

I would love to have him. He is who I wanted the year they drafted John Ross instead. 

Drafting Howard at #9 would have been as big a bust as John Ross was.

[futurecoach]

28 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Drafting Howard at #9 would have been as big a bust as John Ross was.

While I agree it wouldn’t have changed the offense like a top 10 pick should. I do think he would have been better than Ross, or at least contributed more. Down in Tampa he hasn’t gotten much of an opportunity, especially the last two years. Here he would have at least got more of an opportunity, plus honestly probably would have at least saved us from drafting Sample in the second round. 

[futurecoach]

TEs typically take a year or two before they really come on in the NFL. OJ Howard in his first 3 seasons had over 90 receptions, 1400 yards, and 12 touchdowns. Not elite great number for a top 10 pick. However, I wouldn’t say he was a bust either. However, in his 4th and 5th years they got Gronk and made him the feature receiving TE. He also does have some injury concerns. 
 

With that said he is still a young TE and was trending in a positive direction before Brady and his buddy Gronk joined Tampa. So I do think Howard if healthy, which would be key staying healthy. I think he could at worst at least bring what Uzomah brought to the TE spot. 
 

Tyler Conklin would be my first choice though, and then OJ Howard. 

[MJAlltheWay24]

8 hours ago, futurecoach said:

TEs typically take a year or two before they really come on in the NFL. OJ Howard in his first 3 seasons had over 90 receptions, 1400 yards, and 12 touchdowns. Not elite great number for a top 10 pick. However, I wouldn’t say he was a bust either. However, in his 4th and 5th years they got Gronk and made him the feature receiving TE. He also does have some injury concerns. 

He was competing with Cameron Brate too, who is a pretty decent TE himself.

[CincySportsFan]

For those of you suggesting Hubbard getting more reps at DT this year, with Hendrickson and Ossai being the outside rushers...I just don't see it.  I will readily admit that I know probably next to nothing in the fine details of line play, but there are a couple of things that stand out to me as warning signs against him at that position.  One is his height.  At 6'5 (which makes him 4" taller than Aaron Donald) he's going to have a hard time getting leverage against most NFL guards, right?  And all I've ever heard is leverage wins.

The second thing against him is his weight.  At least when the Bengals had a tall DT like Margus Hunt, he went 295.  Sam's listed at 265.  That's still 15 pounds lighter than even a small DT like Donald, and 35 pounds lighter than someone like Geno Atkins.  Again, I see this as a disadvantage if he gets locked up with a 330 pound guard.  I just don't see him being able to overpower most people.

Sam's best attribute is his athleticism and his motor.  If you want to have him in there with Hendrickson and Ossai, I'm all for it.  But, there's no way I'm putting him down inside.  I'd have him upright, sliding up and down behind the guys with their hands on the ground.  Let him cause chaos in the protection game for the offensive line, or delay his rush while the guys up front stunt/twist.  Or in the case of what he did at KC, drop back and spy the QB when we play guys like Lamar or Mahomes.  To me, to maximize Sam, you put him in space.  No need to handicap him, by tying him up inside.  At least, those are the thoughts from this armchair coach.

[futurecoach]

27 minutes ago, CincySportsFan said:

For those of you suggesting Hubbard getting more reps at DT this year, with Hendrickson and Ossai being the outside rushers...I just don't see it.  I will readily admit that I know probably next to nothing in the fine details of line play, but there are a couple of things that stand out to me as warning signs against him at that position.  One is his height.  At 6'5 (which makes him 4" taller than Aaron Donald) he's going to have a hard time getting leverage against most NFL guards, right?  And all I've ever heard is leverage wins.

The second thing against him is his weight.  At least when the Bengals had a tall DT like Margus Hunt, he went 295.  Sam's listed at 265.  That's still 15 pounds lighter than even a small DT like Donald, and 35 pounds lighter than someone like Geno Atkins.  Again, I see this as a disadvantage if he gets locked up with a 330 pound guard.  I just don't see him being able to overpower most people.

Sam's best attribute is his athleticism and his motor.  If you want to have him in there with Hendrickson and Ossai, I'm all for it.  But, there's no way I'm putting him down inside.  I'd have him upright, sliding up and down behind the guys with their hands on the ground.  Let him cause chaos in the protection game for the offensive line, or delay his rush while the guys up front stunt/twist.  Or in the case of what he did at KC, drop back and spy the QB when we play guys like Lamar or Mahomes.  To me, to maximize Sam, you put him in space.  No need to handicap him, by tying him up inside.  At least, those are the thoughts from this armchair coach.

The two guys you listed are actually two of the smaller guys height wise for DTs. They are the ones specifically Geno that broke the mold showing shorter DTs can be successful. 
 

As for the reason many are suggesting Hubbard can slide inside, it is because that is exactly what they were doing with him when they had Dunlap and Lawson. Hubbard played inside at DT on passing downs. 
 

No one is suggesting Hubbard should be playing inside for all downs. He would still be your DE in your base defense, and in your run defense where is really good at setting the edge. We’re more talking about on true passing downs, having him slide inside. Which isn’t a foreign concept, and many teams slide quicker guys with his size inside on passing downs. Which is how the Bengals used him too in the past, when they had other DEs who were good at rushing the passer. 
 

On passing downs you want to get guys on the field who can rush the passer. Which a front four of Hendrickson, Hill, Hubbard, and Ossai (depending how he looks) could be a good pass rush on passing downs.