FanPost

Cornerback conundrum, Draft, & Free Agency

Here's my problem, I'm not a huge fan of any of the top corners in the upcoming draft, except for Clairborne and he's sure to be gone by the time we pick. This means we must make resigning Adam Jones a huge priority and we need to do it sooner rather than later. IMO, Clairborne is the only top projected cb (maybe Janoris Jenkins but I'd really like to get away from the bad character guys) who has the potential and speed to be a #1 shutdown guy in the NFL (don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the other guys won't be good, I just don't see them being shutdown #1 CBs), and that's what we need because we already have Leon Hall (assuming he comes back healthy) and Nate Clements who are both excellent #2 CB's but not really #1 type guys.

My ideal offseason would have us resigning all of our own, excluding Geathers (too expensive) Ced (need an upgrade), Kelly Jennings (just sucks), Caldwell (too inconsistent), Tate (can easily be upgraded as well as opening up another roster spot for us) , Livings (another position that can be and should be upgraded).

Free agent targets

OG - Carl Nicks or Benn Grubbs ( I would break the bank to land either one of them)

WR - Pierre Garcon, Robert Meachum, or Reggie Wayne (only if he would come at a reasonable price because of his age). I'd prefer we pick up another veteran WR in FA, because most of the time it take WR's (not named AJ Green) a year or 2 to develop and adjust to the NFL.

CB - Carlos Rogers - He's pretty old, but I'd offer him real good money for a 2 year deal like we did with Nate last year. This would give us the ability to have Pacman, Rogers, Clements and Hall @ CB next year, it would also allow us to have a securtity blanket to find out how Leon can come back from his injury. If we have him signed for two years we can draft a project CB in a later round who has all the tools to be a #1 but needs a little time to be developed, (ie Josh Robinson CF or Asa Jackson Cal Poly) and it would also allow us time to target another top notch shutdown CB in the 2013 draft (LSU alone has some young stellar DB's who are not coming out this year).

I know there are also some pretty good FA runningbacks, but IMO RB's do not have the shelf life where I could justify spending top flight money on a free agent, therfore I would just target a RB in the top 3 rounds of draft to fill that need.

My draft targets

#1 Guard - David Decastro

#1 Safety - Markell Martin or Mark Barron

#2 RB - Chris Polk

If Richardson falls to us, I would take him #1 and Osemeli in round 2

Lastly, I like Keith Rivers and think LB depth is very important. Now having said that, if signing our own (who actually played this year) or landing any one of the free agents ( I've listed above) requires us to release him to free up extra money, I would be all for it. For example; if we resign Manny Lawson for half the money we are paying Rivers we could take that extra money and put it towards landing a Nicks or Grubbs. Whatever we decide to do, thanks to Raiders taking Carson off the books and giving us extra draft picks we should be in prime position to make some aggressive moves during FA and in the draft this year as well as next year.

The future is definitely looking bright for the Bengals!!!

WhoDey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!And lets kick some Ravens A$$ this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.