Where's the D line help?

[SkinneymulleT]

All this talk about linebackers but hey we are still real weak on the interior line. Sam is only good for about 30 % of the plays and decent at best. Peko is getting there. JT and BROB flat out suck and are robbing us. Will fanaenae make it back to play d line or is he gone? SS plays well but ml seems to not like him. How are we going to fill the holes on the D line? Not through FA.

[BTG]

Here's the deal with our D-line, at least in my opinion.

They took Frostee Rucker in the third last season, and while not many people agreed with the pick, not many people are coaching the Bengals. Obviously Marvin sees something in him he really likes, so maybe he'll turn out to be a good player.

Justin is … well, he's Justin. By now everyone knows what they're getting: 50-60 tackles and 7 or 8 sacks

Geathers has turned into a really good situational pass rusher a la Mark Anderson in Chicago.

As far as the interior goes, the only player I see that has any real future with the club is Peko. With him, you're looking at someone who will be a good player, but never great. He's the type of player who will end up as an 84-88 overall on Madden for the next ten years.

Here's the thing, the Bengals have three need positions right now on defense. Cornerback, linebacker, and defensive tackle. In my own personal opinion, they can get by with what they have in the secondary if Deltha can regain some of his Pro Bowl form and Dexter Jackson can stay healthy, so they don't really need to find a corner in the first two rounds. There is also the possibility of a free agent signing in that area.

However, they really can't rely on what they have at linebacker, and other than Adalius Thomas (who is going to San Francisco - put it in the bank), no one out there is really worth his asking price. The same goes for defensive tackle, and I think Marvin believes they can't rely on Sam Adams and John Thornton. One can't stay healthy, the other has no impact on games.

Knowing all this, I think they're likely to take DT/LB or LB/DT with their first two picks. DT seems to be a bigger area of concern, so if Amobi Okoye (maybe) or Jamaal Anderson (unlikely) fall to them, they should jump on them immediately and take a LB in the second. But if both of them are gone, I really don't think they should reach for someone … especially if a player like Patrick Willis is sitting there. Trading down could be an option, if they can find a partner to do it with, but if that doesn't happen, expect them to take a hard look at a DT in the second. Maybe Quinn Pitcock if he's available? Personally I'd love to see Justin Harrell fall to us in the second, but that's probably unlikely.

[AMC]

Be nice to get another Peko in the fourth round.

I seethe D-Line shaping up as:

Smith DE

Geathers DE

Thornton DT

Rucker DE

Peko DT

Fanene DT/DE

Adams DT

draft pick DT/DE

[redsbengalsbucks]

Is Henderson healthy and still on the practice squad? He was talked about as a first day pick untill his latest injury and maybe the option that the coaches are figuring on having this season.

[James_Brooks21]

Here's the deal with our D-line, at least in my opinion.

They took Frostee Rucker in the third last season, and while not many people agreed with the pick, not many people are coaching the Bengals. Obviously Marvin sees something in him he really likes, so maybe he'll turn out to be a good player.

Justin is … well, he's Justin. By now everyone knows what they're getting: 50-60 tackles and 7 or 8 sacks

Geathers has turned into a really good situational pass rusher a la Mark Anderson in Chicago.

As far as the interior goes, the only player I see that has any real future with the club is Peko. With him, you're looking at someone who will be a good player, but never great. He's the type of player who will end up as an 84-88 overall on Madden for the next ten years.

Here's the thing, the Bengals have three need positions right now on defense. Cornerback, linebacker, and defensive tackle. In my own personal opinion, they can get by with what they have in the secondary if Deltha can regain some of his Pro Bowl form and Dexter Jackson can stay healthy, so they don't really need to find a corner in the first two rounds. There is also the possibility of a free agent signing in that area.

However, they really can't rely on what they have at linebacker, and other than Adalius Thomas (who is going to San Francisco - put it in the bank), no one out there is really worth his asking price. The same goes for defensive tackle, and I think Marvin believes they can't rely on Sam Adams and John Thornton. One can't stay healthy, the other has no impact on games.

Knowing all this, I think they're likely to take DT/LB or LB/DT with their first two picks. DT seems to be a bigger area of concern, so if Amobi Okoye (maybe) or Jamaal Anderson (unlikely) fall to them, they should jump on them immediately and take a LB in the second. But if both of them are gone, I really don't think they should reach for someone … especially if a player like Patrick Willis is sitting there. Trading down could be an option, if they can find a partner to do it with, but if that doesn't happen, expect them to take a hard look at a DT in the second. Maybe Quinn Pitcock if he's available? Personally I'd love to see Justin Harrell fall to us in the second, but that's probably unlikely.

Quinn Pitcock in the second is reaching, he's a third rounder at best, not gifted at all overacheived at Ohio State but that's not going to transfer over when he plays elite competition in the NFL. I'm looking at Tank Tyler from NC State, he's strong as a damn OX and must be reckoned with everyplay or he's going to blow it up. Tanks is not going to kill sacking the Quarterback but he will disrupt your run game and that's what the Bengals need bad. The Bengals do need a cornerback, we can't rely on Keiwan to play Nickel for us or teams will just spread us out and kill us that way ala Tom Brady disecting the Minnesota Vikings. If you have a guy like Keiwan covering your slot you move one of your starting wide receivers there on Third Down, guaranteed first down. You can't trust Deltha to turn a switch and all of a sudden turn back into the pro bowl cornerback he was, the defensive backfield has as many question marks as any other position on defense. The Bengals need to go after Ken Hamlin and move Madeiu to Nickel and that will solve alot of problems.

[BTG]

Here's the deal with our D-line, at least in my opinion.

They took Frostee Rucker in the third last season, and while not many people agreed with the pick, not many people are coaching the Bengals. Obviously Marvin sees something in him he really likes, so maybe he'll turn out to be a good player.

Justin is … well, he's Justin. By now everyone knows what they're getting: 50-60 tackles and 7 or 8 sacks

Geathers has turned into a really good situational pass rusher a la Mark Anderson in Chicago.

As far as the interior goes, the only player I see that has any real future with the club is Peko. With him, you're looking at someone who will be a good player, but never great. He's the type of player who will end up as an 84-88 overall on Madden for the next ten years.

Here's the thing, the Bengals have three need positions right now on defense. Cornerback, linebacker, and defensive tackle. In my own personal opinion, they can get by with what they have in the secondary if Deltha can regain some of his Pro Bowl form and Dexter Jackson can stay healthy, so they don't really need to find a corner in the first two rounds. There is also the possibility of a free agent signing in that area.

However, they really can't rely on what they have at linebacker, and other than Adalius Thomas (who is going to San Francisco - put it in the bank), no one out there is really worth his asking price. The same goes for defensive tackle, and I think Marvin believes they can't rely on Sam Adams and John Thornton. One can't stay healthy, the other has no impact on games.

Knowing all this, I think they're likely to take DT/LB or LB/DT with their first two picks. DT seems to be a bigger area of concern, so if Amobi Okoye (maybe) or Jamaal Anderson (unlikely) fall to them, they should jump on them immediately and take a LB in the second. But if both of them are gone, I really don't think they should reach for someone … especially if a player like Patrick Willis is sitting there. Trading down could be an option, if they can find a partner to do it with, but if that doesn't happen, expect them to take a hard look at a DT in the second. Maybe Quinn Pitcock if he's available? Personally I'd love to see Justin Harrell fall to us in the second, but that's probably unlikely.

Quinn Pitcock in the second is reaching, he's a third rounder at best, not gifted at all overacheived at Ohio State but that's not going to transfer over when he plays elite competition in the NFL. I'm looking at Tank Tyler from NC State, he's strong as a damn OX and must be reckoned with everyplay or he's going to blow it up. Tanks is not going to kill sacking the Quarterback but he will disrupt your run game and that's what the Bengals need bad. The Bengals do need a cornerback, we can't rely on Keiwan to play Nickel for us or teams will just spread us out and kill us that way ala Tom Brady disecting the Minnesota Vikings. If you have a guy like Keiwan covering your slot you move one of your starting wide receivers there on Third Down, guaranteed first down. You can't trust Deltha to turn a switch and all of a sudden turn back into the pro bowl cornerback he was, the defensive backfield has as many question marks as any other position on defense. The Bengals need to go after Ken Hamlin and move Madeiu to Nickel and that will solve alot of problems.

Madieu struggled last year, but you believe he'll be able to move into the corner position and cover faster receivers one on one? Ok. Personally I'm not buying it.

I'm all for Hamlin, by the way.

And Picock is not overrated. He's strong and fast, and until teams got smart and started double-teaming him every play (and no one on OSU's defense picked up the slack to help him out) he was dominant. He was even projected as a first rounder at one point. Pitcock will end up being taken by a team in the mid second, and he'll wind up being a good player in the league. Mark my words.

[schweinhart]

The worse thing the Bengals can do is rely on Fanene as a run DT. He gets blown off the line like a bug gets pressure washed off a deck. He's got some pass rush skills but still lacks the strength to play LDE. He's a situational player at best.

Most likely, Shaun Smith won't be going anywhere and he's the best stop gap LDT they got behind Adams. Thornton played a lot stronger last year vs. the run at RDT and B-Rob is still the best option the team has as a run LDE despite the franchise money doled out for both Jumpy and Justin. In all the run D is the one thing that ain't broke, so it's probably the thing the Bengals will try to fix.

Draftwise, they've forced their hand at CB unless they decide to use Keiwan or Greg Brooks in place of Tory James, which sounds like a really good idea. They could always use Madieu as a a nickel corner weakside wide but then they got to deal with FS and Madieu is a better FS than a CB.

Between that and the weakside backer problem they've created, the D-line just doesn't need any help IMO unless they continue to create more needs with vet cuts. BPA could trump that and the future of the D-line does have to be addressed. But to win in 2007, I hope they don't look at D-line in either free agency or the draft in Day 1. There's a load of excellent Day 2 DEs and some DTs worth looking at later.