Safe at Safety

[redsbengalsbucks]

I am actually pretty damn happy with the Gibril signing.

Fine by me. If I can hear an announcer call "Roethlisberger stuffed by Gibril", the season will be a complete success.

I would rather it be, "Gibril just tore thru that hole and punished Roethlisberger."

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

I am actually pretty damn happy with the Gibril signing.

Fine by me. If I can hear an announcer call "Roethlisberger stuffed by Gibril", the season will be a complete success.

I would rather it be, "Gibril just tore thru that hole and punished Roethlisberger."

...and the camera pans to the crowd where Richard Gere nods approvingly.

[JoePong]

I couldn't give a s**t about Pacman, but I wanted Wilson really badly, and yeah....I'm saying that even though I don't think he's very good.

Thank you for the crumb, sir.

I would have really preferred Hamlin. But I pretty much knew that wasn't going to happen.

I thought they were going to sign C.C. Brown, who is awful. Wilson represents a happy medium between the talents of Hamlin and Brown.

So, I respond to this news with 3 letters:

Meh.

M-E-H

Meh.

You would have preferred Hamlin???

Seriously?

Wow.

[derekshank]

I couldn't give a s**t about Pacman, but I wanted Wilson really badly, and yeah....I'm saying that even though I don't think he's very good.

Thank you for the crumb, sir.

I would have really preferred Hamlin. But I pretty much knew that wasn't going to happen.

I thought they were going to sign C.C. Brown, who is awful. Wilson represents a happy medium between the talents of Hamlin and Brown.

So, I respond to this news with 3 letters:

Meh.

M-E-H

Meh.

You would have preferred Hamlin???

Seriously?

Wow.

Hamlin is a true FS. Wilson is a SS who has been playing FS for some reason. He's awful in coverage and is kind of a poor man's Roy Williams. Crocker remains the only FS on the roster I trust in pass coverage.

Hamlin would have helped in that regard (even if only marginally). Wilson doesn't at all.

[redsbengalsbucks]

I couldn't give a s**t about Pacman, but I wanted Wilson really badly, and yeah....I'm saying that even though I don't think he's very good.

Thank you for the crumb, sir.

I would have really preferred Hamlin. But I pretty much knew that wasn't going to happen.

I thought they were going to sign C.C. Brown, who is awful. Wilson represents a happy medium between the talents of Hamlin and Brown.

So, I respond to this news with 3 letters:

Meh.

M-E-H

Meh.

You would have preferred Hamlin???

Seriously?

Wow.

Hamlin is a true FS. Wilson is a SS who has been playing FS for some reason. He's awful in coverage and is kind of a poor man's Roy Williams. Crocker remains the only FS on the roster I trust in pass coverage.

Hamlin would have helped in that regard (even if only marginally). Wilson doesn't at all.

Wilson doesnt have to be better than Roy or Crocker at FS, just better than Ndukwe and/or Nelson. I hope he is an upgrade to the cover skills that those 2 displayed late last season.

IMHO he almost has to be better than Nelson.

[NJ29]

I couldn't give a s**t about Pacman, but I wanted Wilson really badly, and yeah....I'm saying that even though I don't think he's very good.

Thank you for the crumb, sir.

I would have really preferred Hamlin. But I pretty much knew that wasn't going to happen.

I thought they were going to sign C.C. Brown, who is awful. Wilson represents a happy medium between the talents of Hamlin and Brown.

So, I respond to this news with 3 letters:

Meh.

M-E-H

Meh.

You would have preferred Hamlin???

Seriously?

Wow.

Hamlin is a true FS. Wilson is a SS who has been playing FS for some reason. He's awful in coverage and is kind of a poor man's Roy Williams. Crocker remains the only FS on the roster I trust in pass coverage.

Hamlin would have helped in that regard (even if only marginally). Wilson doesn't at all.

Wilson doesnt have to be better than Roy or Crocker at FS, just better than Ndukwe and/or Nelson. I hope he is an upgrade to the cover skills that those 2 displayed late last season.

IMHO he almost has to be better than Nelson.

Not to mention that Wilson can provide stability in the run game if one of them goes down. Nelson got trucked by Shonn Green, and you bet that won't happen to Wilson.

[derekshank]

I couldn't give a s**t about Pacman, but I wanted Wilson really badly, and yeah....I'm saying that even though I don't think he's very good.

Thank you for the crumb, sir.

I would have really preferred Hamlin. But I pretty much knew that wasn't going to happen.

I thought they were going to sign C.C. Brown, who is awful. Wilson represents a happy medium between the talents of Hamlin and Brown.

So, I respond to this news with 3 letters:

Meh.

M-E-H

Meh.

You would have preferred Hamlin???

Seriously?

Wow.

Hamlin is a true FS. Wilson is a SS who has been playing FS for some reason. He's awful in coverage and is kind of a poor man's Roy Williams. Crocker remains the only FS on the roster I trust in pass coverage.

Hamlin would have helped in that regard (even if only marginally). Wilson doesn't at all.

Wilson doesnt have to be better than Roy or Crocker at FS, just better than Ndukwe and/or Nelson. I hope he is an upgrade to the cover skills that those 2 displayed late last season.

IMHO he almost has to be better than Nelson.

Not to mention that Wilson can provide stability in the run game if one of them goes down. Nelson got trucked by Shonn Green, and you bet that won't happen to Wilson.

I agree that he's an upgrade in that regard. But the Bengals already have Roy and Ndukwe who are both far better in run support than they are in pass coverage. Wilson's just another one in that mold. When Crocker isn't in, we'll still be seeing the safeties out of position with the CBs completely on an island.

Hall and Joseph are better than most at being able to overcome that... but the point is, if Crocker gets hurt, the Bengals still have to put a run stopping SS in the FS position.

[NJ29]

I couldn't give a s**t about Pacman, but I wanted Wilson really badly, and yeah....I'm saying that even though I don't think he's very good.

Thank you for the crumb, sir.

I would have really preferred Hamlin. But I pretty much knew that wasn't going to happen.

I thought they were going to sign C.C. Brown, who is awful. Wilson represents a happy medium between the talents of Hamlin and Brown.

So, I respond to this news with 3 letters:

Meh.

M-E-H

Meh.

You would have preferred Hamlin???

Seriously?

Wow.

Hamlin is a true FS. Wilson is a SS who has been playing FS for some reason. He's awful in coverage and is kind of a poor man's Roy Williams. Crocker remains the only FS on the roster I trust in pass coverage.

Hamlin would have helped in that regard (even if only marginally). Wilson doesn't at all.

Wilson doesnt have to be better than Roy or Crocker at FS, just better than Ndukwe and/or Nelson. I hope he is an upgrade to the cover skills that those 2 displayed late last season.

IMHO he almost has to be better than Nelson.

Not to mention that Wilson can provide stability in the run game if one of them goes down. Nelson got trucked by Shonn Green, and you bet that won't happen to Wilson.

I agree that he's an upgrade in that regard. But the Bengals already have Roy and Ndukwe who are both far better in run support than they are in pass coverage. Wilson's just another one in that mold. When Crocker isn't in, we'll still be seeing the safeties out of position with the CBs completely on an island.

Hall and Joseph are better than most at being able to overcome that... but the point is, if Crocker gets hurt, the Bengals still have to put a run stopping SS in the FS position.

I'm not disagreeing with that at all, in fact I agree with you that Hamlin was clearly the best available option. However, Wilson can probably keep Nelson off the field altogether, and Ndukwe is in fact probably a poor man's Wilson.

But yes, the free safety position is still pretty scary. I'm a huge fan of Crocker, but he is more of a physical free safety, and he could easily be a SS. But maybe where this Pacman signing helps them, along with the drafting of Ghee, is that it could allow Trent to work a little at FS, as others have kind of hinted at before. He clearly isn't a full time safety, but he probably has the height, range and ball skills to do it. That isn't an easy transition to make from a footwork and read standpoint, but from a shear physical standpoint, he might have the ability to be a backup there.

[ArmyBengal]

Ok, after watching the video of Zimmer on Sports of All Sorts, I'm still not real settled with what we have at the safety position and the signing of Wilson doesn't really help. If Zimmer is to be believed, (someone show me why he shouldn't be) he said the Bengals like the traditional 2 safety approach, where you have a coverage safety and a run support safety. This kind of flies in the face of what has been the thought of them looking for the more interchangeable safety.

That being the case, Wilson isn't known for his coverage abilities and is viewed more along the lines of what we already have in R. Williams. Unless they don't believe Williams is going to be the answer, I just don't get it. The depth behind Crocker (coming off an injury) is questionable at best and if he goes down again, I think the secondary takes a significant hit.

Maybe someone else flashes enough to make me comfortable with where we are at this point with the position, but if I had to pick one spot on the roster where the majority of my concern falls, it's the safety position. Sorry, but I simply don't have the faith in the athletic ability we have in our depth to make me soften this stance at this time.

[volcom69]

Ok, after watching the video of Zimmer on Sports of All Sorts, I'm still not real settled with what we have at the safety position and the signing of Wilson doesn't really help. If Zimmer is to be believed, (someone show me why he shouldn't be) he said the Bengals like the traditional 2 safety approach, where you have a coverage safety and a run support safety. This kind of flies in the face of what has been the thought of them looking for the more interchangeable safety.

That being the case, Wilson isn't known for his coverage abilities and is viewed more along the lines of what we already have in R. Williams. Unless they don't believe Williams is going to be the answer, I just don't get it. The depth behind Crocker (coming off an injury) is questionable at best and if he goes down again, I think the secondary takes a significant hit.

Maybe someone else flashes enough to make me comfortable with where we are at this point with the position, but if I had to pick one spot on the roster where the majority of my concern falls, it's the safety position. Sorry, but I simply don't have the faith in the athletic ability we have in our depth to make me soften this stance at this time.

I can see them moving a guy like Morgan Trent to saftey, since they drafted Ghee and got Jones in free agency. I guess we will see, but im not that happy with the saftey postion either.

[ArmyBengal]

Keiwan Ratliff

That's right I said it, Keiwan Ratliff. The guy I have loved to hate when in stripes.

While I'm not sure the plans for one Mr. Ratliff, and to be quite honest, I forgot we picked him back up, I'm remembering the fact the he played the FS position for the Steelers and if memory serves me correctly, he played it quite well. He would certainly provide the depth at the FS spot we currently lack, but I'm just not comfortable having him as the lone source of depth at that important spot, knowing Crocker is still rehabbing from last year.

At least we have other people that can return punts, so we won't be expected to bear witness to his east west return abilities anymore.

I'm not saying he's the answer to any question worth asking, I simply forgot he was on the roster and thought I'd bring it up.

[Kazkal]

Also playing FS his lack of speed would be less noticeable.I like Morgan Trents Savvy(reminds me of crocker) I wouldn't complain if he moved though I wonder if hes abit light.

[redsbengalsbucks]

Keiwan Ratliff

That's right I said it, Keiwan Ratliff. The guy I have loved to hate when in stripes.

While I'm not sure the plans for one Mr. Ratliff, and to be quite honest, I forgot we picked him back up, I'm remembering the fact the he played the FS position for the Steelers and if memory serves me correctly, he played it quite well. He would certainly provide the depth at the FS spot we currently lack, but I'm just not comfortable having him as the lone source of depth at that important spot, knowing Crocker is still rehabbing from last year.

At least we have other people that can return punts, so we won't be expected to bear witness to his east west return abilities anymore.

I'm not saying he's the answer to any question worth asking, I simply forgot he was on the roster and thought I'd bring it up.

Ratliff may just be the reason they didnt draft a reach FS late, they already have a vet with playing time at the position for depth. He might not be great, but he did play the position with some success for other teams. He always had ball skills, he just was a horrible punt returner.