Bengals Make Trade: Orien Harris for Brian Leonard

[walzav29]

It's like a free guy. Good pick up.

[James_Brooks21]

Jeebus, even Peter King likes the pick-up.

5. I think I love the Brian Leonard trade for Cincinnati. The Bengals dealt a journeyman rotational defensive lineman, Orien Harris, for the Rams' second-round pick in 2007, who was a non-factor last year with a shoulder injury that has since healed. I've always thought Leonard was a perfect NFL swing back -- a good-enough blocker to plug in at fullback, a very good pass-catcher, and a good-enough runner to have a 20-carry game three or four times a year and not hurt you.

But, yeah, Edge James. Good lord.

Even King has a good handle on how Leonard might be used and that he has value.

Being able to comprehend is the key to reading. Nobody questioned the trade, it was an excellent trade for the Bengals to get rid of Orien Harris who we probably were going to cut. Nobody said we should give the dude back, but until he show's me something other then projecting what he can do I'm not comfortable going into the season with the backfield that we have. I already know what the heck on paper he can be projected to do, but do I actually believe that he can be productive at doing it is a different beast. Since you are so much into projecting stuff less project the rank of our backfield compared to the rest of the NFL teams; it's also like Peter King projection it's in the top five worst backfields in the country. Let me ask you this if Brian Leonard was capable of doing all this stuff that Peter King said then why would the Rams the team that has had more access to this guy then any other team give up on him; their second round pick a couple of years ago?

[membengal]

The Rams suck. Since when have their talent evaluations been the be all end all? Perhaps they missed on him. Perhaps they didn't develop him right. Perhaps they like him but have a need at DT more. I think it is stupid of you to assume he sucks because the Rams are dealing him.

For the role it appears he is ticketed for on this club, he seems like a nice piece of the puzzle. Far more so that two old washed up dudes.

[ArmyBengal]

I've seen it said many times about how Leonard was a poor fit for the Rams and their scheme, but should be a good fit for ours.

I'll take the wait and see approach with this...

[Baraka]

the other thing to consider was that the rams just changed head coaches and GM's, new regime, out with the old, in with the new ya know

[cincy9275]

Lord please let us sign a good #2 running back before training camp starts. That running back position IMHO is the weakest position that we have on the team, I am not feeling the guys we have as backups. I'm happy as hell that we did not draft a running back but we should be looking to bring somebody onboard better then Brian Leonard.

lenoard, is better than perry and better than you want to give him credit for. if he don't work out we cut him and bring in someone else before the season starts. the weakest postion on the team right now is center with out a doubt, the players we have, have 0 starts in a nfl game. that's my biggest concern, not who's going to be the backup rb.

First of all nobody ever questioned the trade, so stop telling me that the trade for Leonard was low risk everybody on this side of the world knows that. What I'm getting at is that their are still proven vets out there to be had. Leonard is better then Perry? Where the hell is your evidence that he is better then Perry? Oh I forgot you must have seen him running the ball at Rutgers and determined that. Leonard has count them zero touchdowns in the NFL, let me count that again for you zero touchdowns in the NFL but somehow he is an upgrade over Perry and some of you has already annoited him as our backup running back. Now don't get it confused I don't want Perry but Leonard has not proven that he's any better then Perry at this point in his career. Scott was a top five running back coming out of college this year? Where are we getting this stuff from, playing against SE Oklahoma State does not impress me. Center is a big question mark, well guess what there is not any centers out there to sign that will even compete for the starting job, but damn sure there are proven vets out there to compete for that second running back spot. We will see when the season starts though, I'm actually rooting for Leonard to kick butt when the season starts because I'm a Bengal's fan, but do I truly believe it's going to happen not in the least bit. I do have hope that Benson is hungry so maybe that will make up for our lack of depth at that position.

you get that worked up over a response wow.

[BengalByTheBay]

you get that worked up over a response wow.

Dude....we're talking about a backup RB/FB here. This is serious business!!

[derekshank]

Leonard is better then Perry? Where the hell is your evidence that he is better then Perry?

Alright man... I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll take Perry's very best season, and compare it to Leonard's rookie year. That pretty much gives Perry a huge advantage - and we'll see how it shakes out.

Perry had 61 rushing attempts for 279 yards. He had 81 receptions for 328 yards. He had 2 TD's... neither rushing.

Leonard had 86 rushing attempts for 303 yards. He had 30 receptions for 183 yards. He had 0 TD's.

So... looking at Perry's very best season ever, playing healthy on a playoff team with one of the best O-Lines in the NFL, and on an offense that was ranked 6th overall - his stats were very comparable (within 121 yards) to that of a rookie playing 2nd string on a team that went 3-13 and had one of the worst offense's in the NFL.

Combine that with the fact that when Perry was relied on as a starter last year, he had games like the one against the Jets where he had 11 carries for 14 yards... resulting in the Bengals going out and signing Cedric Benson.

I have no problem telling you that Leonard is better than Perry. I would have said that if Leonard had never played a game in the NFL. Perry was garbage... and didn't know how to block. Leonard has the exact kind of skills you want as a 3rd down back, and yes - did show in his rookie season that he is capable of handling the job the Bengals got him for. Something that can't be said of Perry.

I can't believe you're getting this worked up about a guy that is going to be playing on 3rd down. He makes the Bengals better. For the role he will be given, he will perform it adequately, and will not be a cancer in the locker-room like Edge would be if he were brought in to be a 3rd down back.

[HAPPYJAQ]

I see it like this:

If the injuries are even, I'd take Chris Perry based on his skill set.

I'm not defending Chris Perry one bit, but he was also coming off a major injury that caused him to miss the previous season and he also missed much of training camp, to the point where he was essentially a rookie again on a team that struggled in both run and pass blocking early in the year. It's sort of the reason we drafted an OT #6 overall last month. The fumbles were also a major problem for Perry, but we're talking about a guy who didn't play for 2 1/2 years.

Leonard seems like a above-average backup RB, but never a guy that can never be a starter in the NFL. Maybe he's somewhere between Kenny Watson and Derrick Fenner. I still wonder why he was available straight up for Harris, although the Rams could know something about Leornard/Harris that we don't. It wouldn't be the first time and the last time I thought like this was when we signed Louis Oliver from the Dolphins (more on Roy Williams at a different time, albeit a better comparison).

My thinking is that Scott or a late-Summer castoff will be the #2 and Leonard will be the #3 and 3rd down back, effectively replacing Watson. It's entirely possible the Fui could beat out Leonard and be the Nick Luchey(Williams) role as a 3rd RB/FB, especially if Jeremi Johnson makes the team.