Grade the bengals off season!

[vettespd20]

I think that they have done a great job I put A+ :player:

[skyline]

B+ with the ability to swing to an A or C depending on the next few months.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

B+ So far. We won't know until this time next year if it's an A+ or an F-

[jditty47]

i wanted b- but its not an option...just cuz we didnt get a safety or fix our te corp.

[Bobcat Bengal]

I give them an A.

A plus is too homerific, and while I have faith in Chris Henry and think he will get it together, he could easily be in the mold of Pickens and Dillon. He's gotta realize that Chad is the man on this WR squad, but if he's willing to share and be a TEAM player, he will flourish and get his.

Time will tell.

All this talk about Patrick Body has me excited.

[HoosierCat]

I'll give them a B (like ditty, I probably would have gone with B- if it had been there). They'll be better this season than last, and assuming Carson continues to develop, the offense ought to be playoff-caliber this season. But the defense, to me, still looks like it's a year away.

[HairOnFire]

After the draft I gave the Bengals a grade of B, based largely on the strength of the first three selections. I also factored in the addition of a young center prospect at exactly the point many of us were expecting, and the addition of Tab Perry as a special team player who could actually contribute within the normal offense. The only minor complaint I voiced had to do with the Bengals choice in the 7th round as I mentioned my preference for adding an athletic safety prospect who could help right away on special teams. Perhaps you can you see where I'm going with this?

Based upon the additions of Wilkerson, Body, and H-DJ I've bumped the straight B up to the rather lofty heights of B+. Giddy stuff, ehhhh? As for free agency I'm pretty sure I gave them a grade of B on that count as well.

Add it all up and I'm suddenly reminded that I fell in love with and eventually married a woman who sported a couple of B's.

Hey, isn't it odd how my mind works?

B+

[kingwilly]

I gave them a B- overall (B+ for draft) and here's why:

A. Robinson will not be an answer at DT just more competition...Our developing current D-linemen will only provide moderate improvement against the run. I see our pass rush gaining though.

B. While I think that Pollack and Thurman will be better than our current/injured LB corp, now we have two "rookies" who people are tabbing to be the difference between 26th against the run and maybe Top 10. Not. Pollack will get on the field early but remember the learning curve for Madieu? It is a steep climb into the NFL. Pollack and Thurman will need time so adjust your expectations accordingly.

C. As far as the S position, only an undrafted FA "cover" safety has been added. I mean not even spending a draft pick on a guy? Either it was a sorry lot of S's in the draft or somebody will step up..maybe Myles?... If Body can get mean, he has the wheels to beat out Mitchell or KK. Only question is his aptitude for learning a Pro D. Sub 4.3 speed is crazy fast, guys.

D. TE's...man what gives? Schoebel has had made some nice, timely plays and Stewart and Kelly make blocks but the $ associated versus production begs the question.."can a young guy do as well for less $$". We have some nice $$ tied up in TE's..what do we get?

E. Rest of draft...Henry could be a steal and spell the end for KW. Tab Perry is a gamer (watched him alot at UCLA since I live in socal) ad could spell the end for Russell. The OL bodies we got in 4 and 5 are a luxury, given Braham hasn't signed. I'll cross my fingers on Wilkersons knee...can we catch a break for once?

F. Rest of FA..Signing Rudi and TJ burned the books, so what happens after June 1 may push my grade to a solid B. Keep in mind we missed Sharper and have only Robinson to show for our FA effort so far. Open ?'s at D line, S, and TE all could get a boost with one or two signings.

Overall, we are hardly over the hump but have upgraded on paper the LB and WR positions, gained depth at OL and now have a very, very fast deep S for nickel and dime zones to defuse a big play. Open concerns at D-line, TE and the learning curve for the "Georgia" boys keep me from going over a B-..for now.

WOOT...just noticed this was my 200th post...man i better get back to work...

[HoosierCat]

Nice analysis, willy. I agree completely.

[Jet23]

I give them a solid B + mainly because they signed their own Free Agents. The biggest improvement is going to come from guys like Williams, Ratliff, Miller, L. Johnson, Askew, Geathers, Abdullah and Langston Moore having a year under their belts.

I liked what they did in the draft, especially not reaching for a member of the weak Safety crop. I do not think the character issues will be a problem. CD is a punk, but he can not influence the strong core of Patriot players. I think that is where Marvin has the Bengals heading.

[San Antonio Bengal]

Overall grade: A.

1. Signed our own free agents. For a lot of teams this isn't a big issue, but for Cincinnati it is. All of you know the history, so I'm not going to repeat it.

2. Other FA signings (and non-signings). Is Robinson an answer? No. But he will provide added competition and depth. You don't improve when there's no one to compete with. If nothing else, I hope our young guys will get better because of this. I had wanted Sharper to come to Cincy, but after seeing what we did in the draft, I'm glad that Marvin & Co. didn't budge and overpay. Not signing Sharper doesn't bother me (although it did the day it happened).

3. Solid draft. The draft and subsequent FA signings appear to have addressed several issues, especially on defense. Yes, not every last position was taken care of (i.e. safety), but I like the fact that rather than reaching for someone, we took advantage of guys that fell to us. Honestly, I thought it was a weak year for safeties.

All in all, I think some very smart moves have been made, much more so than other years.

[Rimington over Marino]

Don't fret too much over losing Sharper. No safety in this draft excited me. TE is according to Marvin doing exactly what they are expected to. Schobel could be more of a threat when Palmer gets more comfortable. I also think the tackle position was beaten up. Willie's and Levi's knees were a little sore. Willie had surgery after the season.

It is interesting that I haven't heard anything about Willie rehabbing. All I have heard about him is he wants to extend his contract. TEs were ask to block more than normally they would. I am hoping the o line has a better year. I thought Steinbach did not have a great year and Bobbie Williams didn't do any better than Goff. Of course center can definitely improve.

I wanna see Rudi and Chris Perry get some big games against the Steelers and Ravens. To me when Rudi has big games the offense all clicks. When he is stopped for little or no gain we go 3 and out. That puts all the pressure on the defense that can't stop the run.

[jonf45uk]

B+ for me.

last years bunch were the best collectively for years i thought, and there's no reason to think this years won't do as well if not better.

the coaching of the younger players seems to have improved under ml etc.

a good te would have been nice, but the others can block ok, and with so any talented wr's and rb's they may not have to catch that much.

jon f

[BengalszoneBilly]

TE is according to Marvin doing exactly what they are expected to. Schobel could be more of a threat when Palmer gets more comfortable.

It is interesting that I haven't heard anything about Willie rehabbing. All I have heard about him is he wants to extend his contract. TEs were ask to block more than normally they would.

I'm glad a few other people are also seeing the Bengals TE situation for what it truly is, not some dire, "WE GOTTA ADDRESS THE TE POSITION IN THE OFFSEASON OR IT'S GAME OVER MAN!! GAME OVER!! **Using The Bill Paxson voice and line he made famous in the movie "Aliens."**

About not hearing anything on Willie rehabbing his knee...That could be a plus, since normally it's the bad that you hear of!

I wanna see Rudi and Chris Perry get some big games against the Steelers and Ravens. To me when Rudi has big games the offense all clicks. When he is stopped for little or no gain we go 3 and out. That puts all the pressure on the defense that can't stop the run.

Don't you mean to say "That puts all the pressure on the defense that couldn't stop the run during most of last season?" I feel they will do much better this year defensively.

[turnip]

TE is according to Marvin doing exactly what they are expected to. Schobel could be more of a threat when Palmer gets more comfortable.

It is interesting that I haven't heard anything about Willie rehabbing. All I have heard about him is he wants to extend his contract. TEs were ask to block more than normally they would.

I'm glad a few other people are also seeing the Bengals TE situation for what it truly is, not some dire, "WE GOTTA ADDRESS THE TE POSITION IN THE OFFSEASON OR IT'S GAME OVER MAN!! GAME OVER!! **Using The Bill Paxson voice and line he made famous in the movie "Aliens."**

About not hearing anything on Willie rehabbing his knee...That could be a plus, since normally it's the bad that you hear of!

I wanna see Rudi and Chris Perry get some big games against the Steelers and Ravens. To me when Rudi has big games the offense all clicks. When he is stopped for little or no gain we go 3 and out. That puts all the pressure on the defense that can't stop the run.

Don't you mean to say "That puts all the pressure on the defense that couldn't stop the run during most of last season?" I feel they will do much better this year defensively.

Considering how pathetic we were at stopping the run last year, we can improve and still be seen as a D that can't really stop the run. Truthfully our improvements are going to be pretty minor in that category for this year, rookies rarely have the impact people think they will have. So we will improve but I think teams will still be able to run on us to some degree.

[bengalboomer7]

Of course they will, it's their jobs to try to run on us

[TJJackson]

D

I don't think they addressed the run defense well enough.

[Bobcat Bengal]

D

I don't think they addressed the run defense well enough.

Or maybe Coach thinks he has the personnel already.

[vman1186]

I gave them an A.

True we didn't go crazy adressing the run D, but then last year we had 3-4 rookies on D, so it should improve naturally. Robinson will be a fine addition. Besies I think Thurman was a real steal at 48, and should help out.

As far as the draft goes, I think Henry was a good gamble in the third round and we were smart to plan for the future with picks on the OL. My favorite addition may be Ben Wilkerson. With him and Ghuniac you gotta believe our future at center will pan out.

So what we didn't draft a TE, its not that important in the Bengal's offense. We use 3 WR, so its was good to take a couple of WRs, and Perry will upgrade our kick returning.

The only positions I am concerned about are DE and S.

[DontPushMe]

I give it a C-, but since there was no c- i put D+.

Simple as this:

Draft: A-

FA: F

sure we had a great draft, but we signed NO ONE in free agency at all. Unless you count Robinson as a key FA signing And we also spent too much money resigning mediocre players.

Averages out to about a C-

[JPW]

“We are excited to have extended Rudi’s contract,” said Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis. “He has been a very productive player, as well as a winning person, for our football team. He’s to be commended for his part in keeping the core of our offensive unit together.”

Johnson joins three other key Bengals offensive players -- QB Carson Palmer, WR Chad Johnson and WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh -- in having signed with the team through at least 2008.

[brian5562]

Signed no one? We signed a DT that I think most would look at as an upgrade from Tony Williams. We signed one of the top running backs available in free agency as well as a pretty dang good receiver. We also signed two back up db one of which is a special teams ace. We signed a 3rd down running back who is a valuable backup and we signed a backup lb who is very solid on special teams. So tell me again how fa is an F. We kept guys in house. That is so important. Who did you want the Bengals to sign? The only guy that I would have liked to see join the team would have been Sharper and I am glad we stuck with our offer.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Of course they will, it's their jobs to try to run on us

It will be more than their job! With the possible exception of Indy, it'll be each opposing team's offensive focus to try to establish their ball control running game upon the Bengals defense! So until the Cincinnati defense actually proves it has the ability to shut it down with some regularity...expect to see a lot of 1st quarter running plays against the Bengals.

Considering how pathetic we were at stopping the run last year, we can improve and still be seen as a D that can't really stop the run. Truthfully our improvements are going to be pretty minor in that category for this year, rookies rarely have the impact people think they will have. So we will improve but I think teams will still be able to run on us to some degree.

Turnip, I don't completely agree with you here. From 60% to 70% of the time, yes. It was pathetic. The game with the Titan's comes to mind. Sometimes they were even more than pathetic. And remember the contest the Bengals had with Cleveland in seeing which team could score almost 50 points in a game, yet still lose!?! I mean c'mon!! Even I could have played defense that poorly, and saved Mike Brown a good chunk of change all at the same time!

But those two games contrast greatly to others where they played pretty good! The shellacking they put on Tom Brady and Corey Dillon (31 yards in 11 carries!) in that HUGE preseason win That I attribute mostly to the "D" making a statement to Corey that he wasn't going to waltz back into Cincy and embarrass them! Not after the uncalled for remarks he made about Willie, Rudi, and Marvin!

DPM and Patriot fans will throw out the excuse, "Well it was only preseason and the Pats weren't really trying." Bull-pucky! That's not the Patriots style in the regular season, nor is it in the preseason. They had won eight straight preseason games previous to that one! We all saw Bill Belichick on the sidelines. He was freaking LIVID, and left their 1st team starters out there until the 4th quarter! Show me any other Pats early preseason game where Bill Belichick has done anything remotely close to that!

Then there was the MNF game with Denver where they held Denvers always strong running game to around 120 total yards. Rueben Droughns had about 110 of that, but it was with 24 tough carries! Droughns had 176 yards rushing just one week earlier against the Raiders with that "ultra-Warren Sapp-improved"

defense of theirs! (BTW, thanks Al for "stealing" that turd out from under Mike Brown! What a gem he turned out to be. )

So it seems apparent to me that it wasn't the fact that the Bengals were incapable of playing some good defense. It was the fact that they were incapable of being able to keep up playing defense at that level, and THAT was the thing that drove me nuts!!

There just seemed to be no firery leadership from any of the defensive starters! Unless there was something very emotional at stake, as was in the nationally televised Sunday & Monday night games, or the focus on stopping Corey, apathetically would seem to be descriptive of how the defense played! I'm counting on David Pollack to be that leader the defense has been missing! :player:

[schweinhart]

D

I don't think they addressed the run defense well enough.

Or maybe Coach thinks he has the personnel already.

Crutching on outmatched personnel vs the run was the mistake last year and the Bengals got burned because of it.

Pollack and Thurman are huge additions that should stop a lot of the bleeding. If their Bulldog buddy Jumpy Jr. chores a lot more at LDE instead of Clemons, that will hopefully provide better contain when teams run right.

The DTs still look like a very weak group. Thornton played a whole lot more last year than the year before so stamina wise he ought to be stronger and if he gets shifted beside Justin that should free him from double teams enough to see what he can really do.

But at least the Bengals did SOMETHING this year at DT with the Robinson pick-up and really the Shaun Smith and Terrance Martin signings midway through last season were also pretty much signings for this year. Mathias Askew could be the key at the DT position but until he proves he can do something, he's just dead weight.